A majority of voters disapprove of President Trump’s decision to share videos promoting the drug hydroxychloroquine as an effective tool against COVID-19, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.
Fifty-nine percent of registered voters in the August 2-5 survey said they disapprove of the decision, including 42 percent who ‘strongly disapprove.’
By contrast, 41 percent of voters in the poll said they approve of the president’s sharing of videos on social media that promote the drug.
The survey found 82 percent of Democratic voters disapprove of the decision along with 61 percent of independent voters. Seventy percent of Republican voters said they approved of the action.
“It really looks like this becomes a bit of a partisan litmus test where there’s huge differences between Democrats and Republicans,” Chris Jackson, vice president of Ipsos, told Hill.TV.
“I do think Americans are looking for solutions to the coronavirus pandemic but given the controversial nature of this particular drug it doesn’t seem to be something that’s necessarily playing well with the American public,” Jackson added.
The survey comes after President Trump retweeted a video containing false information on how to effectively fight COVID-19.
The Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 2,850 registered voters between August 2 and 5. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.84 percentage points.
—Gabriela Schulte
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