Significant racial disparities exist in knowing someone who has died from COVID-19

Washington DC, May 22, 2020

The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that while fewer than one in five Americans report they know anyone who has died from the coronavirus or its complications, there are significant differences between white and non-white Americans.

Detailed findings

1. Though just 15 percent personally know anyone who has died from the coronavirus or complications related to the coronavirus, there are significant differences between white and non-white Americans.

• White Americans (10%) are less likely than non-white Americans (25%) to personally know someone who has died from the coronavirus or its complications – a 15 percentage point difference. Black Americans are the most likely to know someone who has died (30%).

2. A majority are confident that they know where to go to get tested for the coronavirus if they believe it to be necessary (77%), and that they would be able to get tested (71%).

• Confidence about where to go is highest among white Americans (80%), with non-white Americans less so (72%).
• A similar pattern emerges among perceived ability to get tested, with 75% white Americans feeling confident, compared to 65% non-white Americans.

3. Sixty percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus, compared to 57% last week and 54% in mid-April.

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos Poll was conducted May 20 to 21, 2020 by Ipsos Public Affairs KnowledgePanel® – a division of Ipsos. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 773 general population adults age 18 or older.

The survey was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, which is the largest and most well-established online panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in these households are invited to join and participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®. For those potential panel members who do not already have internet access, Ipsos provides a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methods, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and provide fully representative online samples to the research community.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male/Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School graduate, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Other/None)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.30. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

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