President Trump is blaming his personality, not his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic that has left more than 151,000 Americans dead, for his low approval ratings when it comes to the crisis.
A Morning Consult poll released Monday found that 59 percent of voters do not approve of Trump's handling of the pandemic, with just 36 percent approving. During a coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, Trump touched on these bleak numbers, wondering aloud why Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is polling better.
"It's interesting, he's got a very good approval rating and I like that," Trump said. "It's good. Because remember, he's working for this administration. He's working with us. We could've gotten other people. We could've gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration. And for the most part, we've done pretty much what he and others ... recommended. And he's got this high approval rating, so why don't I have a high approval rating ... with respect to the virus?"
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As Trump sees it, since Fauci is working for the government, the goodwill shown to him should extend to the president, and he finds it "sort of curious" why Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, are "highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all." Catherine Garcia
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