For a brief period in late March and early April, a slight plurality of the public approved of how President Trump was handling the coronavirus. Trump was at that time putting experts front and center and allowing them to brief the press every day. Cases were rising rapidly, but there was a sense of a plan to get through it and occasional acknowledgment of the tough road ahead.

But, months after abandoning that strategy in favor of happy-talk as the crisis deepens, Trump’s poll numbers have cratered. The public disapproves of his handling of the crisis by a 20-point margin, according to an average of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.