Other divides also became apparent in that first survey.
1 That 26 percentage point gap would grow to around 40 points as spring turned to summer and then fall. About six-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (59%) said it was, compared with only a third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. While majorities in both parties anticipated the economic problems hurtling toward the nation, Democrats and Republicans differed sharply over whether the virus was a major threat to the health of the U.S. There were already some indications of the partisan divide over the virus in that first sounding. had more cases than any other country, and a majority of Americans were under some kind of stay-at-home order. By mid-March, all 50 states had reported coronavirus cases. News about the virus was breaking so rapidly that public concern ticked up noticeably even within the weeklong field period of our survey. from parts of Europe and the White House advise Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. We interviewed nearly 9,000 Americans over the course of the next seven days – a period that saw the World Health Organization declare the virus a pandemic President Donald Trump declare a national emergency and ban travel to the U.S. Our first COVID-19 survey went into the field on March 10, 2020. In early surveys, a sign of things to come extends into its second year – with more than 500,000 dead and major challenges to the nation’s economy – Pew Research Center looks back at some of the key patterns in public attitudes and experiences we observed in the first year of the crisis. was in a 14-nation survey last summer.Īs the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. America’s partisan divide stood out even by international standards: No country was as politically divided over its government’s handling of the outbreak as the U.S. Democrats and Republicans disagreed over everything from eating out in restaurants to reopening schools, even as the actual impact of the pandemic fell along different fault lines, including race and ethnicity, income, age and family structure. public opinion in the first year of the coronavirus outbreak may be the extent to which the decidedly nonpartisan virus met with an increasingly partisan response. And they generally had confidence in hospitals and medical centers to handle the needs of those stricken with the virus.Īs the pandemic wore on, however, there was less and less common ground. Most approved of their state and local officials’ initial responses to the outbreak. With restaurants, stores and other public spaces around the country closing their doors, most saw COVID-19 as a serious economic threat to the nation.
So, it's dangerous to predict what the next few months might hold.īut it's likely right up to election day Trump is going to keep being asked: how did the world's most advanced nation fare so badly in a pandemic?Īt a minimum, you'd think he and his team need to craft a more consistent answer.About a year ago, state and local governments in the United States began urging residents to adjust their work, school and social lives in response to the spread of a novel coronavirus first identified in China.Īmericans could agree on a few things at that early stage of the U.S. Throughout his term, Trump hasn't suffered as badly from his flip-flopping and obvious missteps in the way other politicians might have. He now seems to have dropped this phrase. In January and February, he praised China publicly on a number of occasions, then later on began referring to the contagion as the "Chinese virus". In press conferences, he will often say he's "not happy" with Beijing, then wax lyrical about doing a trade deal, before speaking in glowing terms about his friendship with President Xi Jinping. His messages about China are also regularly mixed.
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