DFP Coronavirus Response Tracking Poll Week 6

By Brian Schaffner and Laurel Bliss, Tufts University

Summary

Overall, attitudes and behaviors related to Coronavirus have been evolving only slowly over the past six weeks. However, we are starting to see a dip in worry and concern over the coronavirus outbreak. For example, this was the first week in which the share of Americans who were very or somewhat worried about the outbreak dropped below 70 percent. While about three-fourths of Americans indicated that they were very/somewhat worried back in April, now only about two-thirds say the same. Similarly, the percentage of Americans who say they are very concerned about the pandemic has dropped from 59 percent in April to 52 percent this week.

The HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives last Friday receives overwhelming support in our poll. 76 percent of respondents either somewhat or strongly support the Act. Support for the HEROES act is lower than support for the CARES Act (85 percent), but both are incredibly popular. Of the 17 percent of people who do not support the HEROES Act, 78 percent identify as Republicans, 6 percent as Independents, and 16 percent as Democrats. Opposition of the CARES act is less partisan: 63 percent of those who do not support the CARES Act are Republicans, 8 percent are Independents, and 28 percent are Democrats. The most items that Americans most want to see in the next stimulus legislation are funds for coronavirus testing and contact tracing (78 percent), grants to businesses to keep workers on payroll (76 percent), and aid to states and cities to fund education, Medicaid and other state programs (73 percent).

Approval of how politicians have handled Coronavirus have not changed dramatically. It is worth noting, however, that Nancy Pelosi trailed Trump back in April, but now gets slightly higher marks than him. Pelosi receives 51 percent approval compared to Trump’s 44 percent. Pelosi originally trailed Trump by nearly 7 percentage points. Approval for the CDC continues to slip as well, but is still reasonably high at 73 percent. Approval is down 11 percentage points since April 14th.

Social distancing numbers also continue to shift as states continue the re-opening process. 20 percent of respondents are now socializing in public, up 7 percentage points from April 14th. 20 percent of respondents are also socializing at the homes of family and friends, up five percentage points since April. However, over half of Americans still say that they are not socializing in person at all; though this is down 10 percentage points from week one.

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:”

Which level of government do you trust more to handle the Coronavirus pandemic: The [R’s state] state government or the federal government?

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).

Full Toplines and Crosstabs

A document showing toplines by survey wave for each question can be found here.

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

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