An overwhelming majority of Americans say the US response to coronavirus makes them feel embarrassed

insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger)
·2 min read
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President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on May 13.

Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

  • A strong majority of Americans (58%) in a new poll disapproved of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 68% saying they're embarrassed by the US response.

  • Ninety-three percent of Democrats and 33% of Republicans said they're more embarrassed than proud by the way the US had responded to the coronavirus outbreak.

  • The US has the most reported coronavirus cases and fatalities in the world.

  • There have been nearly 5.5 million reported coronavirus cases in the US and more than 171,000 confirmed deaths.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Almost seven in 10 Americans in a new CNN poll said the US response to the coronavirus pandemic made them feel embarrassed.

Sixty-eight percent said that, compared with 28% who said they were proud.

Democrats overwhelmingly said they were more embarrassed than proud (93% embarrassed, 5% proud), while 61% of Republicans said they were proud. The poll found that 33% of Republicans said they were embarrassed by the US response.

The US has the most reported coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus despite the mounting death toll. He's taken an anti-scientific approach, repeatedly contradicting the nation's top public-health experts. The president at one point even dangerously suggested that researchers should look into injecting disinfectant as a cure, prompting companies that produce such products to forcefully warn consumers against doing so.

More recently, when confronted with the staggering six-figure death toll from coronavirus in the US, Trump said: "They are dying. That's true. And you — it is what it is."

Public-health experts have said the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic has been "abysmal" and has mirrored that of authoritarian governments.

As of Wednesday, there had been nearly 5.5 million reported coronavirus cases in the US and more than 171,000 confirmed deaths.

A solid majority of Americans (58%) in the CNN poll disapproved of Trump's handling of the pandemic. Fifty-five percent also said they thought the worst of the pandemic was yet to come.

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