SHU poll gives Gov. Lamont thumbs up in handling COVID-19 crisis
Gov. Ned Lamont”™s handling of the COVID-19 crisis is getting positive reviews from Connecticut residents, according to a new poll conducted by Sacred Heart University”™s Institute for Public Policy.
In a survey of 1,000 residents conducted between March 24 and April 3, 67.2% of respondents commended the governor on his handling of “communication to the public” while 65% approved his “overall response and handling of the coronavirus crisis.” In addition, 53.5% of respondents were impressed with how Lamont is “instilling confidence in state leadership” and 51.6% were supportive on how he is “addressing a plan for Connecticut residents and families.”
The one downside to Lamont”™s performance involved how “addressing a plan for businesses in the state” ”“ only 45% of respondents approved this aspect of his pandemic outreach.
Slightly more than two-thirds of respondents (67.4%) believed the state”™s handling of school closings was managed “about right,” although than one-quarter believed bars and restaurants (29.7%) and theaters (29%) were closed too late. However, 82.7% of surveyed residents agreed with Lamont”™s decision to close nonessential businesses.
Regarding the state”™s preparedness for this epidemic, only 21.8% of surveyed residents believe Connecticut was prepared to handle the pandemic while 38.1% felt the state was not prepared. The remaining 40.1% were either neutral or unsure.
At a national level, 47.4% of the poll”™s respondents disapproved of President Trump”™s overall handling of the coronavirus crisis, compared with 39.9% that approved of it. Regarding the mainstream media”™s coverage of the crisis, 54.8% of surveyed residents rated the quality of reporting as excellent or good and said they have either a great deal of trust (15%) or some trust (35.1%) in the media coverage they have seen.
Along party lines, 62.3% of Democrats rated the quality of media coverage around the pandemic as excellent or good, compared to 51.9% of Republicans, while 61.5% of Democrats trusted the media coverage around the virus versus 39.4% of Republicans.
“While everyone is very concerned about the immediate and future impact of the coronavirus epidemic on their personal finances, work and quality of life, there was general support for the work of Governor Lamont and his administration to handle this crisis,” said Lesley DeNardis, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy and director of Sacred Heart University”™s master of public administration program.
“Most people surveyed felt the state wasn”™t ready to deal with a crisis of this magnitude and moved too slowly regarding the closing of businesses, but overall confidence in the initial steps taken since the onset of the pandemic in Connecticut was high. And not surprisingly, there is disagreement along party lines over the president”™s handling of the pandemic and over trust in the media.”
The poll, which was conducted in partnership with the Hartford Courant, has margin for error of +/-3.02% at a 95% confidence level.