With COVID-19 cases soaring across the U.S., Americans by nearly a two-to-one margin disapprove of President Donald Trump's response to the pandemic. In a poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post released on Friday, six in 10 disapprove of how the president is handling it, up since the early days of the outbreak.

Among the president's challenges is his credibility on the virus, the poll shows. "Only 34% of Americans place a great deal or good amount of trust in what he says about COVID-19, while 64% trust him not so much or – in the case of nearly half the public – not at all", ABC pointed out.

As the White House tried to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top expert on infectious diseases, dozens of high-profile people have proclaimed their support for Fauci and have dismissed Trump's response to the virus.

In a rebuke of President Trump, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized the administration for its response to the coronavirus pandemic, while praising Fauci's efforts.

"I just think that it was avoidable and it's really disappointing that we still don't have adequate testing, that the credibility of top scientists like yourself and the CDC are being undermined and until recently that parts of the administration were calling into question whether people should even follow basic best practices like wearing masks," Zuckerberg said on Thursday during a Facebook live interview with Fauci.

The criticism by the tech mogul reflected the crisis of confidence the president has been through since the first case was found in the U.S. in late January. Following Trump's blaming of the rise in coronavirus cases on increased testing on Monday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called for Ohioans on Thursday to show unity and take action against the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the state.

"I know some say that our case numbers are increasing because we are simply doing more testing. Yes, our testing has gone up by 87 percent. But our number of positive cases has skyrocketed by almost 200 percent," the governor said.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Melinda Gates, who leads the foundation with her husband, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, said last week that she was "deeply" disappointed by the stance of President Trump over the pandemic and anticipated repercussions in the upcoming election.

"The populace needs to speak out against ... any leader that's not using the tools and the data available" to fight COVID-19, she warned.

(With input from agencies)