DFP Coronavirus Tracking Poll Week 3

By Brian Schaffner and Laurel Bliss, Tufts University

Summary

Since last week, most measures surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have remained relatively constant. However, there is a clear downward trend in approval for Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. As of April 28th, 43 percent of respondents somewhat approve or strongly approve of President Trump’s actions, a five percentage point drop from last week’s 47 percent support and down 7 percentage points since April 14th. This drop in approval is coming mostly from Democrats and Independents. Democratic approval for Trump’s response has dropped 9 percentage points since April 14th to 11% while approval among Independents has dropped 6 percentage points down to 30 percent. Approval of Trump has held fairly steady among Republicans. Support for the CDC and Joe Biden’s handling of the coronavirus remains relatively unchanged as well.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents continue to think the distribution of stimulus aid is too slow, a 6 percentage point increase from last week. This view prevails even though 41 percent of American adults say that they have now received a stimulus check from the government. That is up from 11 percent just two weeks ago.

Support for provisions that Americans would like to see in the next aid legislation remains high across the board. Every policy we asked about receives over 50 percent support. The vast majority (63 percent) of respondents believe that the government should spend more to address the coronavirus pandemic even if it means increasing the national debt and deficit. Another 28 percent believe the government has spent enough while just 9 percent believe that the government has spent too much to address this crisis. Even in light of the impact of additional spending on the deficit, Americans overwhelmingly support more spending to address the crisis.

Approval on handling of coronavirus pandemic

The graph below shows the percent who strongly or somewhat approve of how Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or the CDC are handling the coronavirus pandemic. Respondents who responded “not sure” were excluded from the analysis.

Question wording: “For each person or group, say whether you approve or disapprove of the way they are handling the coronavirus pandemic:”

Changes in job status

Here we track responses to a question asking respondents how their work has changed since March 1st of this year. Only respondents who are in the workforce are included in the chart below.

Since March 1st of this year, has your work changed? Yes, my hours have been reduced. Yes, I lost my job.

Social Distancing

Question wording: Which of the following best describes your current behavior?

I am continuing to socialize in public places

I am continuing to socialize in public places, but slightly less than before

I am not going to public places, but I am socializing with friends or family in my or their homes

I am not going to public places, but I am socializing with friends or family virtually I am not going to public places nor am I socializing with family or friends

Government response to Coronavirus

In this section, we show how Americans are evaluating what the government has done to address the Coronavirus pandemic and how much they still want the government to do.

Question wording: Based on what you have heard, do you support the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or CARES Act?

Question wording: Have you received a check or direct deposit as part of the federal government’s stimulus bill (the CARES Act)?

The recent stimulus package (CARES Act) mandated the distribution of financial support for individuals and small businesses. Do you think the government has distributed this financial support…?

Question wording: Do you think the government should spend more money to address the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impacts, or do you think the government has already spent enough?

Question wording: Which comes closer to your view?

The government needs to spend more to address the coronavirus pandemic, even if it means increasing the national debt and deficit

The government has spent enough to address the coronavirus pandemic and should not do anything else to increase the national debt and deficit

The government has spent too much to address the coronavirus pandemic and should cut spending to reduce the national debt and deficit

Question wording: Would you support or oppose the following provisions in a future legislative package to address the coronavirus pandemic:

General scope of government

Here we track Americans' views on the scope of government.

Question 1 wording: Some people think the government should provide fewer services even in areas such as health and education in order to reduce spending. Suppose these people are at one end of a scale. Other people feel it is important for the government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending. Suppose these people are at the other end. Where would you place yourself on this scale? 1=Provide fewer services. 7=Provide many more services.

Question 2 wording: Some people feel the government in Washington should see to it that every person has a job and a good standard of living. Suppose these people are at one end of a scale. Others think the government should just let each person get ahead on their own. Suppose these people are at the other end. Where would you place yourself on this scale? 1=Govt should let each person get ahead on own. 7=Govt should see to jobs and standard of living.

Question wording: Do you think that the government response right now should mostly be focused on: Relief in the form of assistance to workers and small business OR Investments in new infrastructure to get Americans back to work.

Question wording: Would some form of socialism be a good thing or a bad thing for the country as a whole? (Remaining respondents selected “no opinion”)

Methodology

The Data for Progress coronavirus tracking poll is fielded each week using respondents recruited via Lucid. Post-stratification weights are implemented to make each week’s sample nationally representative of American adults by gender, age, region, education, race, and the interaction of education and race. The margin of error for each week’s survey is approximately ± 3.7 percentage points (this is a conservative estimate and will vary slightly depending on the exact sample size and design effect each week).

Crosstabs

Crosstabs for each week’s poll can be found at the links below:

The raw data for the tracking poll can be found here.