As polls continue to show that President Trump’s approval rating has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic storm, severely hurting former Vice President Joe Biden’s chances in the coming election, NBC’s Chuck Todd lamented why his poll numbers have not worsened.
During a segment of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Todd expressed puzzlement over a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that showed the president’s approval rating to be roughly the same as a year ago – 46% approve versus 51% disapprove.
“Now think about what’s happened, guys,” Todd began, as reported by Newsbusters. “We had an impeachment and a pandemic. So, an impeachment and a pandemic has happened between April of 2019 and April of 2020 and the President’s job ratings are 46 percent approve, 51 percent disapprove.”
Todd then turned his puzzlement over to White House correspondent Peter Alexander, while further criticizing the president for acting like “he’s got a big part of his job on the pandemic done.”
“Peter Alexander, obviously, the durable nature of the President at times knows no bounds,” said Todd. “A pandemic, an impeachment, nothing seems to break through there. That said, the President seems to have moved on to a new phase. He seems to believe he’s got a big part of his job on the pandemic done.”
Alexander agreed with Todd, arguing that President Trump has made the crisis all about himself while other people, namely celebrities and world leaders, make it a “we crisis.”
“In my conversations with White House officials and those close to the President, they agree. They say in the eyes of the President, this is a transition to a new phase,” said Alexander. “But what’s particularly striking here is you sort of have this ‘me President’ in what is best described as a ‘we crisis.’ The President … is trying to sort of claim credit for the guidelines being out. They say they beat the May 1 deadline, saying he’s trying to move the economy on, get things back to normal life, is now casting the blame for perceived failures on testing and other issues if the economy isn’t to come back quick enough, on the governors here.”
Alexander then compared President Trump’s behavior with that of Hollywood celebrities who held a concert on Saturday to raise money for the World Health Organization.
“And you just compare that, Chuck, to what Americans – a lot of them – millions of Americans watched last night with leaders and artists together in this concert that was watched around the globe,” said Alexander. “Right? This was something that focused on the sort of sense of togetherness right now. Acting selflessly, working together with other nations, including, frankly, the World Health Organization and the effort to stay inside.”
A recent Fox News poll showed the president’s job approval rating has jumped to a “record high” amid the pandemic, from 47% to 49%. In another Fox News poll, the president tied with former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee at 42%. As The New York Times rightly noted last week, Biden should not take any lead against Trump for granted.
“At the moment, a reasonable estimate is that Mr. Biden is performing four or five points worse among likely voters in the critical states than he is among registered voters nationwide,” the Times argued. “As a result, he holds only a narrow and tenuous edge in the race for the Electoral College, if he holds one at all.”