Polling done by the Associated Press and NORC pollsters show that less than a third of those asked—32 percent—believe that unpopular gameshow host and president Donald Trump has handled the crisis in Puerto Rico well. That’s worse than the less than half that believe he handled hurricanes Harvey and Irma well—48 percent.
Interestingly, views of his handling of Maria vs. Harvey and Irma drop about the same amount regardless of political party. Republicans are much less likely to think Trump handled Maria well, as are Democrats.
It’s hard to spin Trump’s blatant incompetence and his Atlantic City greeter act, even for Republicans. This may in part be due to Trump’s Twitter attacks on black athletes the same weekend that Maria was devastating Puerto Rico.
The AP-NORC poll offers another bit of data that seems revealing in this context. The pollsters asked how much of a responsibility the U.S. government had to aid victims of natural disasters depending on where they occurred. For disasters on the U.S. mainland, 88 percent of respondents said that the government had a major responsibility to help victims. For disasters in territories, like on Puerto Rico, only 77 percent thought the government had a major responsibility, with an additional 20 percent saying there was a minor responsibility.
The fact that one hundred percent of people didn’t say the “government had a major responsibility,” may have to do with the face that about 33 percent of those people are likely idiots and racists who believe anything that comes out of the mouths of con men.