President Donald Trump stands in front of a chart with coronavirus information in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

A plurality of Americans prefer the leadership of President Trump to that of former vice president Joe Biden amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

Trump led Biden by an eight-point margin, with 44 percent of voters seeing Trump as a better leader during the crisis than Biden (36 percent), though the two evenly divided opinion when voters were asked whom they would trust to handle the issue.


A majority of voters — 52 percent — prefer former president Barack Obama to Trump, with 38 percent saying Trump would be the stronger of the two leaders during the crisis. Ten percent did not have an opinion.

Biden slammed Trump last month for a “colossal” failure in ramping up testing, and said that the stock market’s volatility was a reflection of Trump’s poor leadership. The Trump campaign responded by criticizing Biden in a statement over past “terrible judgment and incompetence in the face of public health issues.”

The president spoke to Biden, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, over the phone on Monday to discuss the government’s coronavirus response, after Trump suggested Biden’s initial proposition for a phone call had never materialized.

Joe Biden wanted the date for the Democrat National Convention moved to a later time period. Now he wants a “Virtual” Convention, one where he doesn’t have to show up. Gee, I wonder why? Also, what ever happened to that phone call he told the Fake News he wanted to make to me? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2020

“Vice President Biden and President Trump had a good call,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement afterwards. “VP Biden shared several suggestions for actions the administration can take now to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and expressed his appreciation for the spirit of the American people in meeting the challenges facing the nation.”


Last week, Trump said New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose approval rating has risen during the pandemic, would “be a better candidate than sleepy Joe.”

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