The majority of Americans think the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak is actually making the country worse, according to a new poll released Tuesday. 

Sixty percent of participants think the federal government’s initiatives are making the coronavirus pandemic worse, indicating that the government might be part of the problem, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll, whereas 39 percent think the federal government’s actions are making the crisis better.

The survey’s results, as reported by Axios-Ipsos, revealed a “stark partisan divide” as 74 percent of Republicans thought the federal government was making the recovery better, while 80 percent of Democrats agreed the federal government was making the recovery worse. Most independents, or 68 percent, believed the federal government was making the recovery worse.

Twenty-five percent of Republicans indicated that the federal government’s response was making the recovery worse and 19 percent of Democrats thought the government was making the recovery better.

The overall trust in the federal government has dropped since late March, as more than half of Americans said they trusted the federal government to look out for their best interests from a poll conducted by Axios-Ipsos, compared to just 32 percent of respondents saying they expect the government to look out for their best interests.

Respondents continue to be in favor of Democratic nominee Joe Biden to provide them with accurate information in regards to the pandemic, as 45 percent of respondents said they trusted Biden and 31 percent said they trusted President Donald Trump.

Despite the lack of trust in the federal government and the president, 57 percent of respondents said they’re somewhat or very hopeful that the US will get the pandemic controlled within the next six months, while 43 percent said they were not too hopeful or not hopeful at all. There was another partisan divide from the results, as 82 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of Democrats were hopeful that the coronavirus would be under control in six months.

The poll results come just about two months before a historic election, where the two have gone head-to-head in the press about the other’s political ideals and campaign team.

The Axios-Ipsos poll was conducted August 28–31, among a nationally representative sample of eleven hundred adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.

Image: Reuters