Most voters in the U.S. remain concerned about the coronavirus, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds, with the federal government continuing to face a massive trust deficit in its attempts to stem the pandemic.
The results come as the U.S. is hurtling into winter amid another surge of coronavirus cases, with most states trending in the wrong direction and some places implementing new restrictions or pausing their reopening plans.
Roughly 7 in 10 voters say they’re at least somewhat concerned about the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., with 40% calling themselves very concerned.
Two-thirds say their daily lives have changed at least somewhat compared to prior to the start of the outbreak, although only 35% say their lives have changed a lot. About a third say they’re currently staying home as much as possible, 41% that they are choosing to go out but taking precautions, and 24% that they’re living as normally as possible.
Just 22% say there are currently too many coronavirus-related restrictions where they live, with 41% saying there’s about the right level, and 31% that there are not enough restrictions in place. Most voters want to see something between a complete lockdown and a complete reopening: a 56% majority say some businesses and activities should be closed, but others allowed to reopen.
Voters, who gave low marks to President Donald Trump and the federal government on the issue prior to the election, have not substantively changed their tune. They disapprove of Trump’s handling of coronavirus issues, 54% to 41%. By a slightly broader margin, 55% to 36%, they also disapprove of the way the U.S. government has handled related issues. Just 37% say they are even somewhat confident that U.S. government statements about the coronavirus are reliable and accurate, with a similar 38% saying the same of Trump’s statements.
A 62% majority say they expect the pandemic to have a lasting effect on the U.S., with only about a fifth expecting things to get back to normal soon.
Use the widget below to further explore the results of the HuffPost/YouGov survey, using the menu at the top to select survey questions and the buttons at the bottom to filter the data by subgroups:
The HuffPost/YouGov poll consisted of 1,000 completed interviews conducted Nov. 6-9 among U.S. registered voters, using a sample selected from YouGov’s opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the population.
HuffPost has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov’s nationally representative opinion polling. More details on the polls’ methodology are available here.
Most surveys report a margin of error that represents some but not all potential survey errors. YouGov’s reports include a model-based margin of error, which rests on a specific set of statistical assumptions about the selected sample rather than the standard methodology for random probability sampling. If these assumptions are wrong, the model-based margin of error may also be inaccurate.
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