Another network poll is out finding majority support for Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and this time CBS didn’t even manage 10 seconds for the news. Instead, CBS This Morning on Thursday skipped the positive numbers and barely mentioned the survey at all. In the 7am hour, co-host Tony Dokoupil announced, “A CBS News poll out this morning shows about half of Americans, 51 percent of us, believe the outbreak will get worse in the next month. Only 28 percent think it will get better.”
In the 8am hour, co-host Anthony Mason picked out this detail: “In the latest CBS News poll, 83 percent of Americans say our top priority should be staying home to stop the spread of the virus. Seventeen percent said getting back to work to get the economy going is more important.” That was it for the poll.
Only on CBSNews.com or Twitter could you find out that Donald Trump has majority support, 51 percent, for handling the virus. CBS’s website described it this way:
Marks for President Trump's handling of the outbreak remain mixed and have not dramatically changed from last week, with 51% saying he's doing a good job — down two points since last week — and 49% a bad one.
Speaking of “last week,” on March 24, CBS polled on the topic and found similar results. That day, the morning show allowed 10 seconds on Trump’s approval for COVID-19. This week, the show’s hosts couldn’t manage that.
On March 20, ABC followed a similar pattern. Good Morning America’s Amy Robach managed just 10 seconds to a poll finding nearly identical results: “And people also finding more support for President Trump’s handling of this crisis – 55 percent approve of the President’s performance.”
On Twitter, Thursday, CBS News tweeted out this key detail. (Also NOT mentioned on CBS This Morning.)
Could that be why certain journalistic outlets are struggling with whether to continue carrying the corona briefings live?
A transcript of the two poll mentions on Thursday are below. Click "expand" to read more.
CBS This Morning
4/2/2020
7:04
TONY DOKOUPIL: Vice president Mike Pence says we're on pace to match hard-hit Italy and a growing number of Americans seem to appreciate that. A CBS News poll out this morning shows about half of Americans, 51 percent of us, believe the outbreak will get worse in the next month. Only 28 percent think it will get better.
8:03
ANTHONY MASON: Florida has joined a growing list of at least 37 states and Washington, D.C., that have issued stay-at-home orders or directives. They apply to more than 253 million people. In the latest CBS News poll, 83 percent of Americans say our top priority should be staying home to stop the spread of the virus. Seventeen percent said getting back to work to get the economy going is more important.
