Navigating Coronavirus — May 30

4 min readMay 30, 2020

In today’s email, we take a look at Trump’s failed leadership as thousands of Americans die daily — from threatening to shoot his fellow Americans, to rolling back the coronavirus task force and pulling out of W.H.O. — with a Saturday Spotlight on the role of social media on public opinion, featuring new polling done for Accountable Tech.

Read on for today’s Navigating Coronavirus…

It’s been 92 days since President Trump said we’d soon have zero cases in the U.S. We now have 1.8 million cases and more than 104,500 deaths.

THE LATEST

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

TRUMP FAILS LEADERSHIP TEST AS NATION MOURNS.

Amidst 104,000 dead Americans and the horrible murder of George Floyd, Trump has shown everyone exactly what kind of president he is. He spent the last 48 hours dividing the country and encouraging violence against Americans and deaths — even as the coronavirus death toll continues to rise.

>> Trump called predominately white armed anti-social distancing protestors in Michigan “very good people,” but as the nation mourns George Floyd’s murder, Trump incites violence and calls these protesters “thugs.”

Desperate to distract from his failures, he’s dismantling the trusted task force and pulling the U.S. out of the W.H.O. despite the crisis being far from over.

CNN: “As US deaths top 100,000, Trump’s coronavirus task force is curtailed” >> “The task force has essentially been sidelined by Trump, said senior administration officials and others close to the group, who described a greatly reduced role for the panel created to guide the administration’s response to the pandemic.”
LA Times: “U.S. will cut ties with World Health Organization amid global pandemic”
NBC: “Today, Arizona reported its single highest day of newly-reported COVID cases — 702. And its most ICU beds in use of any day yet — 378.”

Even though experts are trusted far more than Trump in this crisis.

NAVIGATOR DATA >> On April 16, after Trump’s first round of attacks on the W.H.O., Americans trusted the W.H.O. 20 points more than Trump (64% vs. 44%).
MORE >> In this week’s data, the CDC has a 76% favorability and Fauci was at 60% — two critical members of the task force team Trump is winding down. Trump was at 42%.

NAVIGATOR TRACKING NUMBERS . . .

TOPLINES >> HERE

Navigator conducted recent polling for the newly-launched Accountable Tech to take a look at how the public consumes news from social media sources and how that shapes their views on current events, including coronavirus.

The majority of Americans believe social media platforms do more harm than good in times of crisis. 65% believe social media platforms spread disinformation too quickly, doing more harm than good vs. 35% who think they do more good by allowing people to get information quickly. This perception spans across parties.

63% of Americans want to see posts from elected officials with misinformation removed. Democrats feel the strongest about this, but a majority of Republicans and Independents still agree.
More Americans believe social media platforms don’t go far enough in moderating content vs. go too far. 29% say they do not go far enough and 25% say they go too far, while 23% say they get it about right.
Social media platforms are the dominant source of news among younger Americans in particular.

But, as it is, Americans who rely on social media believe conspiracy theories at higher rates. Below is a side by side of those who get news from broadcast vs. unchecked social media. The divide is stark.