Trump: 'Nobody likes me'

(Image credit: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

published 28 July 2020

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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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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