Gallup: Local hospitals rated best for COVID-19 response, media worst

May 1 (UPI) -- Americans rate health institutions' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of state government, Congress and the White House, a Gallup poll released Friday indicates.

Asking whether respondents approve or disapprove of the response to the coronavirus by various key actors, "Hospitals in your local area" received a 93 percent approval rating in the survey. "U.S. hospitals" found 92 percent favorability, followed by employers, at 89 percent and "your child's school or daycare" at 87 percent, where applicable.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, received an approval rating of 79 percent, followed by government health agencies at 78 percent, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., at 67 percent and Vice President Mike Pence at 56 percent. Fifty percent of respondents approved of President Donald Trump, followed by Congress at 48 percent and "the news media" at 41 percent.

The data were collected during the last two weeks in April. Compared with the same question asked in March, Trump's rating fell 10 percentage point, Pence's by 5 points, that of Congress by 11 points and the media by 3 points.

Most interviews were concluded before Trump's April 23 remarks about disinfectants, which prompted warnings from health experts and disinfectant manufacturers, Gallup said.

The rating for employers rose from 82 percent to 89 percent, notable because many companies have made extraordinary changes in business since the pandemic intensified, and three of 10 working Americans have reported a pay reduction or job loss.

Area hospitals found the approval of 96 percent of self-identified Republicans, 91 percent of Democrats and 93 percent of independents. The actions of President Donald Trump, though, were approved by 91 percent of Republicans and 50 percent of independents but only 11 percent of Democrats. Significantly, only 11 percent of Republicans approved of the media, compared to 41 percent of independents and 68 percent of Democrats.

Results were based on telephone interviews conducted from April 14 to 28 with a random sample of 1,016 adults, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error was plus-or-minus four percentage points at the 95 percentage confidence level.