SMITHFIELD – Most of the 410 Rhode Island voters surveyed by Fleming & Associates rate the job performance of state elected leaders during the current COVID-19 pandemic as doing an “excellent or good” job, while only about one-third of those voters felt the same way about national elected leaders’ job performances.
The findings were released Thursday by the Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University. The poll, conducted between April 15 and April 18, surveyed the public’s attitude about how much voters approve the elected officials’ handling of the health crisis, both locally and federally. The survey asked voters about their trust in the information that is being provided, how their personal economic well-being the pandemic is being affected, and attitudes toward roles and responsibilities of government.
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According to the survey results, 60% of respondents said they rate the job performance of state elected leaders as either “good” (38%) or “excellent” (22%), while 26% said their performance has been “fair” – and 12% as “poor.” Fifty-two percent of respondents said local elected leaders have done either an excellent or good job so far in this crisis, the survey said.
By comparison, 32% of respondents said national elected leaders have been either excellent or good with their job performance during the pandemic, the survey said, and 35% have said they have done a “poor” job – and 24% said they’re doing a “fair” job.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has been given high marks from survey respondents, with 81% percent saying she’s done either an excellent or good job in dealing with the pandemic. Eighty-four percent of the respondents said they trust either a “great deal” or a “good amount” of information being presented by Raimondo on the pandemic, while 10% said “not so much.”
Regarding public health officials, 84% of respondents said, per the survey, they trust a great deal or good amount of information presented by health officials about the crisis.
President Donald J. Trump, meanwhile, has been given a “poor” rating by 47% of respondents, compared to 34% of people saying he’s done either an excellent or good job. Sixty-one percent of respondents also said they either have “no trust” or “not much” trust in the information Trump presents on the pandemic, while just 35% said they have either a great deal or good amount of trust in Trump’s information.
Regarding personal economic impact from the pandemic, respondents were split. Fifty-five percent of respondents have said that sustained either “little” or “no impact” financially thus far in the pandemic, the survey said, while 43% said they either had “moderate” to “great” impact.
Also, 82% of Rhode Islanders said they are more likely to engage in voting, the survey stated, and 61% were more likely to express their views to elected officials. A majority of voters said that the responsibilities of the federal government should be expanded in health care (53%), income security (53%) and education technology (62%).
Eighty-six percent of the survey respondents said they consider themselves either as an independent (48%) or Democrat (38%). Only 12% of respondents considered themselves as Republican, the survey stated.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
