Lou Dobbs asked viewers of his Fox Business Network program Wednesday evening to rate President Trump’s handling of the global coronavirus pandemic, urging his audience to participate in an online poll that precluded an outcome of anything other than acclamatory.
“How would you grade President Trump’s leadership in the nation’s fight against the Wuhan Chinese virus?” the conservative commentator asked during “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
“Superb? Great? Or very good? Cast your vote on Twitter,” said Mr. Dobbs. “We’d like to hear from you on this important question.”
Mr. Dobbs added that he would report Thursday evening on the “scientific” outcome of the poll, which was posted by his official Twitter account during the episode.
Hours ahead of showtime, more than 39,000 Twitter users had participated in the poll. The vast majority – 79.2% – rated the president’s handling of the pandemic as “superb.”
Other, more scientific polls have indicated Americans are largely unimpressed with the president’s response to the outbreak, however. The results of a Politico/Morning Consult survey released Wednesday found that 41% of respondents rated Mr. Trump’s handling of the pandemic as either “excellent” or “good,” compared to 39% who described it as a “poor.”
Mr. Dobbs, 74, has long been laudatory of Mr. Trump, frequently praising the president and his policies well before the novel coronavirus made its way to the U.S. from China.
And as the number of domestic cases of individuals infected with the virus recently started to surge, Mr. Dobbs continued to commend the president for his response all the while.
Discovered in Wuhan, China, in late December, the first documented case in the U.S. of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, was reported in Washington state on Jan. 20. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have since identified more than 10,000 domestic cases of COVID-19, including at least 150 that have resulted in deaths.
Speaking about the outbreak on Feb. 18, Mr. Dobbs congratulated the Trump administration for having the outbreak “under control” and “constraining the spread of the virus into this country.”
“I think it’s being managed well,” Mr. Dobbs said Feb. 20. “The results speak for themselves.”
When stocks slid earlier this month as the virus spread, Mr. Dobbs blamed the “national left-wing media” for “playing up fears of the coronavirus.” And when the market briefly rebounded days later, Mr. Dobbs showed viewers an autographed print-out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average he received from the president.
Stocks have since continued to tumble, and Mr. Trump acknowledged Tuesday that the outbreak is “not under control” anywhere in the world.
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