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But the numbers look very different when isolating Republican respondents. The poll shows that 90% of Republicans trust Trump compared to 84% who trust the CDC. Just 13% of Republicans said they trust the national medias information about the coronavirus.

Among Democrats, 14% said they trust Trump while 72% said they trust the national media. More than 90% of Democrats said they trust the CDC and medical professionals.

This trend is significant, because Trumps claims about the pandemic have often been at odds with medical professionals. An earlier NBC News/Wall Street Journal pollfound that Republicans were largely not worried about the virus and did not plan to change their lifestyle to protect themselves.

Trump repeatedly spread misinformation as he sought to downplay the virus for weeks while it spread around the globe.

We have it very well under control, Trump saidon Jan. 30 as the virus took hold in the U.S. We have very little problem in this country at this moment.

In February, the presidentclaimedthat it looks like by April the virus will be gone.

In theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away, he argued.

Later that month, Trump assured the public that the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.

By late February, he turned his attention to accusing Democrats of pushing a hoaxby hyping the threat posed by the virus and falsely blamedformer President Barack Obama for his own administrations delays in testing.

Even as the country struggled to ramp up testing, Trump falsely insistedthat the number of cases was going very substantially downnot up. He also insisted that a vaccine would be available very quickly,even though experts said one would come in12 to 18 months.

As the number of confirmed casesbegan to heavily trend upward in March, Trump insistedthat the virus was no worse than the flu, even though it is much deadlier and more contagious. Heclaimedthat he was not concerned at all only two weeks ago.

Over that stretch, Trump repeatedly liedabout the availability of tests, botched his announcement of a European travel banand falsely claimed that his handling of the crisis had an approval rating close to 80%.

Trump finally changed his tune and acknowledgedthat the situation was bad in mid-March, but in recent days the president beganto argue that restrictions imposed to try to contain the spread of the virus were worse than the death toll from the disease itself.

During a news briefing on Tuesday, Trump set an Easter deadline to ease restrictions intended to contain the spread but got pushback from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Thats really very flexible, Fauci told reporters. You need to evaluate the feasibility of what youre trying to do.

Trump insisted at an earlier news conference that Fauci doesnt not agree with his plan to lift restrictions in an effort to boost the economy, but The Washington Postreported that Fauci had stressed to officials that restrictions should be more severe not less.

It would be a major mistake to suggest any change of course when it comes to containment, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told The Post. I just spoke with Dr. Fauci. He believes that, if anything, we should be more aggressive and do more ... You cant have a functioning economy if you have hospitals overflowing. People arent going to go to work like that.

Journalists worried that Republican subservience to Trump during a deadly pandemic could lead to dangerous consequences.

They trust Trump more than the CDC or their own governors, MSNBC host Joy Reidtweeted. Theyre taking their cues on how to protect their health and that of their families from him, not from experts or even their own governors. This cult of personality is literally endangering people.

The Republican Party has become a Trump cult, New York Times columnist Wajahat Aliadded. People will be harmed by his incompetence and recklessness. Conservatives who know better speak up. Save lives.

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Republicans trust Trump for accurate information on COVID-19 over the CDC despite his false claims - Raw Story