We’ve been asked if there is any polling about the government’s response to the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 with relevance to the general election. It’s probably still too early to tell, and there isn’t much political polling going on (at least that’s publicly reported). Campaigns have largely gone into hibernation, relying on digital engagements, and some have shifted almost entirely to community service efforts.
A national The Economist/YouGov poll (PDF), which was in the field March 22-24, found 49% of “adult citizens” approve of the way President Trump is handling the outbreak and 44% disapprove. Predictably, approval follows partisanship:
- 92% of Republican primary voters approve, and 6% disapprove
- 17% of Democratic primary voters approve, and 81% disapprove
Independents are split down the middle with 42% approving and 45% disapproving.
Men (53/41) view his response more favorably than women (44/46). Voters under 30 (38/52) were less approving than voters 65 and older (53/40).
These are not surprising. We have seen this pattern of numbers throughout Trump’s presidency. Again, they’re national numbers, so not really applicable to Texas, but indicative of the overall political mood.
Federal Deadline: Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the last day of the current fundraising quarter for federal candidates and officeholders, in case your inbox hadn’t already alerted you.
CD24 open: Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro endorsed Candace Valenzuela in the Democratic runoff over Kim Olson.
CD31: National pundit David Wasserman has changed his rating to “likely Republican” from “lean Republican” for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock). “Democrats didn’t get the candidate they wanted through the primary,” he wrote, citing Tammy Young’s failure to make the runoff.
Local Elections: We have updated our Municipal Elections page to denote which cities have postponed their May 2 elections until November 3, and to identify a few who canceled them because all candidates were unopposed. We expect several other municipalities will delay their elections. Some may have postponed but have not updated their websites yet.
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