Poll: Americans trust governors most when it comes to COVID-19 crisis

April 23 (UPI) -- Nearly 70 percent of Americans trust governors across the United States to do the right thing for the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, a survey showed Thursday.

Gallup asked respondents about their confidence in various groups of leaders in handling the pandemic. Sixty-eight percent expressed a great deal to a fair amount of confidence in their governors; forty-seven percent voiced the same measure of confidence in President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders; and 46 percent said the same for Democrats.

Respondents also rated Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (58 percent) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (51 percent).

"The current level of confidence in state governors to handle the economy is higher than the previous 58 percent and 51 percent ratings that governors received in 2011 and 2014, respectively, though governors ranked much higher than federal leaders in each of those polls as well," Gallup wrote.

Support is politically divided for Trump and Congress. The president received 93 percent approval from Republicans and 13 percent from Democrats.

Trump has sparred with multiple governors in recent weeks. Wednesday, he criticized Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for a plan to allow non-essential businesses to reopen Friday. He has also criticized New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Gallup polled more than 1,000 U.S. adults for the survey, which has a margin of error of 4 points.