Another Poll Shows Americans Trust Democratic Governors More Than Republicans To Put Public Health First

A new Navigator Research poll shows Americans give Democratic governors higher approval ratings than Republican governors by 12 points for their handling of COVID-19. Democratic governors have earned Americans’ trust by following facts and science in their COVID-19 responses, while Republican governors have ignored the advice of public health officials and made decisions based on politics. 

As it turns out, good policy is also good politics. Governors who didn’t cave to political pressure and followed science instead are having better political outcomes.

The different responses between Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is a case study on this. Gov. Cooper followed the advice of public health experts and refused to hold a Republican National Convention with zero COVID-19 precautions and no masks. DeSantis, on the other hand, welcomed the in-person, no precautions RNC to his state, which is now seeing record COVID-19 cases and running out of ICU beds. New polling shows voters agree with Gov. Cooper’s decision by a margin of 2:1.

Democratic governors will continue to make decisions in the interest of public health. Republican governors have a lot of catching up to do – so far, all states with Democratic governors now have a mask order, while 18 out of 26 Republican governors have refused to issue a mask requirement.

“Democratic governors have made decisions based on facts and science while Republican governors have bucked the advice of public health experts,” said DGA Communications Director David Turner. “Americans have made it clear time and again – they prefer leaders who put public health above partisanship.”