Navigating Coronavirus — June 5

Earlier this week, we shared some resources that could be helpful for those who, like us, want to show solidarity with those protesting against racism and police brutality. You can check out that list here. Today, on what would have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday, there has still been no justice for Breonna. Here is a list of concrete action items you can take to commemorate her life.

In today’s email, we take a look at Americans’ economic views on Trump and Democrats as we anticipate a historically awful jobs report. We also look at how Trump is giving up on defeating coronavirus so he can focus on his own political interests.

Read on for today’s Navigating Coronavirus…

It’s been 98 days since President Trump said we’d soon have zero cases in the U.S. We now have 1.9 million cases and more than 110,000 deaths.

OF NOTE FOR TODAY . . .

• Ahead of this morning’s jobs report, Trump’s economic approval is at record lows. Only 32% of Independents approve of his handling of the economy, and a majority of the public overall (51%) now disapproves.
• NEW NAVIGATOR DATA >> A majority of Americans, including 45% of Independents, find the Democratic approach to get more money to those who urgently need it appealing, including those who have lost their jobs.
• REMINDER >> The Trump administration already said they are going to break precedent and withhold economic information to cover up the extent of Trump’s downturn.

THE LATEST

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

1. TRUMP IS FOCUSED ON HIS OWN POLITICAL INTERESTS, NOT KEEPING AMERICANS SAFE.

Trump has launched the country into chaos in every way imaginable, and his rush to end social distancing is forcing a greater divide, pushing workers back onto the job and allowing the wealthy to stay safe. As more than 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with coronavirus and 1,000 die each day, Trump continues to ignore experts to put his own political interests above public health.

• AP: “Social distancing not required at Trump Mount Rushmore event”
• “Organizers have scrapped plans to mandate social distancing during President Donald Trump’s appearance at a July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks display and won’t limit the crowd due to coronavirus concerns, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Thursday.”
• ABC: “Trump campaign, RNC to resume in-person campaigning next week for first time since pandemic hit”
• PEOPLE: “1,106 West Point Graduates Told to Return for Trump Speech — and 16 Test Positive for COVID-19”

All as Trump ignores expert warnings of what’s to come:

• Throughout Navigator tracking, Americans routinely prioritize their health over all other concerns, but Trump would rather pretend this crisis is over than prepare us for a second wave.

NAVIGATOR TRACKING NUMBERS . . .

TODAY’S POLLING DECK >> HERE

TODAY’S TOPLINES >> HERE

• Across the board, Democrats remain more trusted than Trump to handle the pandemic. A majority of Americans believe Democrats will protect preexisting conditions, improve the health care system, and protect their family’s health care. By 12 points, Americans trust Democrats in Congress to respond to the impact of coronavirus on their lives.

• Americans also overwhelmingly trust Democrats more than Trump to safely reopen the country. By 11 points, Americans trust Democrats over Trump on how to safely reopen (47–36%), and overall, Democrats have a two-point edge on Trump on deciding how and when to reopen (43–41%).

• On reopening, Americans like that Democrats trust health experts and are looking out for working people and the unemployed.

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 the devastating jobs numbers in Trump’s economy.

Another two million workers applied for unemployment last week and the unemployment rate is expected to surge — but Trump and his allies are still dragging their feet and refusing to extend unemployment benefits for millions of workers.

• This morning we’re going to learn that America’s unemployment rate has reached Great Depression-era levels in the wake of Trump’s bungled coronavirus response.
• Once again, Black workers will be disproportionately impacted by Trump’s economic turmoil.
• While workers are suffering, Trump continues his push to cut off unemployment benefits and force workers back on the job before it’s safe. This is not just wrong, it’s bad economics and will prolong and worsen this crisis.
• Congress must move quickly to put money into families’ pockets, prevent economic freefall and collapse, and fix the underlying economic problems that have made this crisis so much worse than it needed to be.

MUST READ ECONOMIC CONTEXT >> “The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968.”

— -

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

Know someone else who should be on our list? Have them SUBSCRIBE HERE