Navigating Coronavirus — June 17

In today’s email, we have new polling on coronavirus, the public’s views on reopening and new outbreaks, and Trump’s disapproval (which hit an all-time tracking high). We also examine how Trump is causing deaths to rise by lying about the virus and refusing to fight it, as the Fed Chair contradicts Trump directly in calling for new economic aid to help workers and families.

Read on for today’s Navigating Coronavirus…

It’s been 109 days since President Trump said we’d soon have zero cases in the U.S. We now have 2.2 million cases and more than 119,000 deaths.

TOP TREND

• Trump disapproval has hit a record high during our tracking. 58% now disapprove of the job he’s doing as president, and his approval rating among Independents stands at just 34%.

THE LATEST

Message guidance on the latest developments with President Trump’s handling of the crisis.

1. TRUMP’S RUSH TO END SOCIAL DISTANCING IS RAISING OUR DEATH RATE.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise in more than 20 states and so are the death projections as Trump downplays the threat and rushes ahead with his dangerous rally plan.

• CNN: “An updated model from the University of Washington projects more than 201,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by October. That estimate is up 30,000 from just last week.”
• NYT: “Florida, Texas and Arizona all set records for the most cases they have reported in a single day.”
• WSJ: “As U.S. Nursing-Home Deaths Reach 50,000, States Ease Lockdowns”
• CNN: “Pence tries to declare coronavirus over as Trump pushes reopening and campaigning”

2. TRUMP IGNORES EXPERTS AND MISLEADS THE PUBLIC.

Trump is trying to paint a rosy picture about the next six months, but our country is in a dire situation that is not improving.

• WAPO: “Trump predicts a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, though public health experts are unsure”
• “Public health experts, including Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, have said there is no guarantee that a working vaccine will be available by the end of the year.”

3. TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS ARE BLOCKING TRANSPARENCY FOR CORONAVIRUS AID.

And they could even be enriching themselves doing it.

• Politico: “Some GOP lawmakers who benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program also opposed legislation requiring lending transparency.”
• AP: “Government watchdogs are warning that a legal determination by the Trump administration could severely limit their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.”
• “The warning comes as lawmakers complain that the Trump administration has repeatedly blocked efforts to oversee the rescue law, including refusing to turn over detailed information about companies that applied for and received federal loans intended for small businesses.”

*NEW* NAVIGATOR TRACKING NUMBERS . . .

TODAY’S POLLING DECK >> HERE

• Americans overwhelmingly believe the number of new coronavirus cases is increasing, even as Trump pretends the crisis is over. The share of Americans who say we need more strict social distancing has also ticked up in recent weeks, indicating Trump is way out of touch with the public on his approach to reopening.
• MORE >> Trump is losing the argument on reopening. A majority agrees that Trump is ignoring medical experts and putting lives at risk by pushing to reopen too aggressively.

• If we face a second wave, Americans don’t want to keep things open. 60% support reversing reopening plans in the case of another outbreak.

• Americans are more likely to believe the spread of coronavirus is due to rushed and unsafe reopening than the recent protests. Trump may be trying to blame the protests, but people aren’t buying it yet — they point to a number of factors contributing a lot to the spread of coronavirus, most notably people ignoring safety precautions or not wearing masks.

• Trust in state and local leaders to respond to coronavirus over Trump has gone up a lot — as nearly two-thirds now choose the former, including nearly 40% of Republicans.

ECONOMIC CRISIS IN CONTEXT

The latest on how the economic crisis sparked by coronavirus is actually fueled by years of President Trump’s conservative economic policies, focusing today on Federal Reserve Chairman’s comments on the Trump economy.

Trump-appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is contradicting Trump and telling Congress what workers and families know all too well: the economy is in deep trouble and Congress needs to do a whole lot more to fix it.

• Powell made it clear that the only way the economy can truly recover is if workers and families are healthy and feel confident that coronavirus is contained — which runs counter to Trump’s dangerous reopen-the-economy-at-all-costs approach.
• Powell highlighted the need for additional congressional action to put money into the pockets of workers and families, including extended unemployment benefits and support for teachers, firefighters, and other state and local workers threatened by budget cuts.
• Trump and his allies are still threatening to cut off expanded unemployment benefits for workers when the current program expires on July 31.
• REMINDER: Trump and his advisors don’t like the way Powell is being honest about the economy so just want him to “smile” more, have a better “bedside manner,” and get “media training.”

Powell also highlighted the fact that this crisis has had a disproportionate impact on women and workers of color — and that inequality is bad for the economy and ought to be addressed.

• Trump’s massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations have increased inequality and made the economy far more vulnerable to this crisis — and now he wants to use this crisis to jam through even more tax breaks for corporations.
• Also yesterday: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he was “intrigued” by a proposal by Jared Bernstein and Groundwork’s Janelle Jones for the Fed to target the Black unemployment rate in their policy decisions.

READ: “More than 100 economists tell Congress: More relief needed to avoid ‘prolonged suffering’ and ‘stunted economic growth’”

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Navigating Coronavirus is a joint project of Governing for Impact, Groundwork Collaborative, The Hub Project, and Navigator Research.

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