Trump Supporters Know Where to Turn in a Crisis: To Him

But when many Americans consume their news in snippets, B-roll footage of the president speaking with agency heads in the Roosevelt Room can be enough to cement impressions of coordination, unity, transparency.

Voters said they were comforted watching the recent spate of televised briefings at the White House. They saw the president and vice president standing behind the podium, surrounded by heads of agencies — the sheer presence of the experts seeming to confirm that Mr. Trump was communicating their findings accurately.

“It’s more of a feeling than the actual data,” Mary Lou Drake, a Trump supporter from The Villages, said on Wednesday. “It’s a feeling of trust in these people that they’re working hard, they’re doing what they can, they’re not shielding information, and they’re putting out all the information they have at the moment.”

With four children ranging in age from preschool to sixth grade, Rachel Losey is lucky if she catches CBS radio in the morning and a Tucker Carlson segment at night. The 38-year-old stay-at-home mom, who lives in Battle Creek, Mich., feels that based on what she has heard, the president and his administration have things under control.

“I appreciate what Donald Trump is doing, saying, ‘Yeah, there’s a problem, we’re taking care of it, but don’t panic. It’s going to be OK, don’t freak out about it,’” she said.

That sense of calm, even levity, about the virus permeated places like Battle Creek late in the week, even as the first cases were confirmed in Michigan and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency.

“From what I can see, the president has surrounded himself with people whose main objective is to contain this without causing unnecessary worry,” said Ryan Leonard, a 49-year-old real estate agent who volunteers for the Calhoun County G.O.P.

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