Americans’ concerns about COVID-19 continue to decline

New ABC News-Ipsos poll shows Americans more willing to resume activities than they were a month ago

The author(s)
  • Chris Jackson Senior Vice President, US, Public Affairs
  • Mallory Newall Vice President, US, Public Affairs
Get in touch

Washington DC, June 12, 2020

Seven in ten Americans (69%) are concerned that they, or someone they know, will be infected with the coronavirus, according to the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll. This number reflects a nine percentage point decline from last week, and a return to levels of concern seen when we first started measuring in mid-March. Furthermore, Americans are now more willing to re-engage in “normal” activities, like going to the salon or eating in a restaurant, than they were a month ago.

1. The declining levels of concern about COVID-19 are due to fewer people reporting they are very concerned. 

  • Currently, 28% are very concerned that they, or someone they know, will be infected with the virus, down from 36% last week. Overall, 69% are concerned.
  • Democrats remain significantly more concerned about the virus than Republicans (82% vs. 59% concerned, respectively).

2. More Americans are willing to go to a salon, restaurant, church, and resume other pre-COVID activities than they were last month.

  • We have seen a significant increase in every single activity, with the biggest increases coming from going to church, going to the mall, and flying on an airplane (15 percentage point increases each).
  • At least half of Americans now say they are willing to go to a mall, attend church, go to a salon, stay in a hotel, or go to work. A majority of parents are willing to send their child to school.
  • More than one in four (26%) are willing to attend a protest.
Chart

3. Most oppose the “defund the police” movement, but there are significant differences based on race, partisanship, and age.

  • Just one in three (34%) support the movement to “defund the police.” Slightly more, 39%, support reducing the budget of their local police department if the money is shifted to programs related to mental health, housing, and education.
  • A majority of Democrats (55%) support the movement, yet just one in ten Republicans (9%) agree. Black Americans are more than twice as likely as white Americans to support, and support is also higher among Americans under age 50.  
Chart

About the Study

This ABC News/Ipsos Poll was conducted June 10-11, 2020 by Ipsos Public Affairs KnowledgePanel® – a division of Ipsos. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 686 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 4.2 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 1.29. 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
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

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.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com

Download
The author(s)
  • Chris Jackson Senior Vice President, US, Public Affairs
  • Mallory Newall Vice President, US, Public Affairs

Society