Reuters/Ipsos Core Political: Coronavirus Tracker (05/20/2020)
Washington, DC, May 20, 2020 – This week’s edition of the Reuters/Ipsos Core Political shows that while most Americans continue to disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the coronavirus/COVID-19, general concern about the spread of the virus has softened. The state of the economy and jobs are at the forefront of Americans' minds. Thinking about the upcoming November general election, former Vice President Joe Biden continues to hold a small lead over President Trump.
President Trump’s approval holds steady at 41%, the same as last week.
- Approval of his handling of COVID-19 in particular is on trend since mid-April, with 42% who approve of his performance.
- Trump’s handling of coronavirus continues to be driven by high levels of partisanship with Republican registered voters (78%) significantly more likely than Democratic registered voters (17%) to approve of his handling of COVID-19.
The economy and jobs are at the top of mind for just over 1 in 3 Americans (35%).
- Republican and Democratic registered voters are both more concerned about the economy and jobs than other issues (38% and 34% respectively).
- Healthcare is a top concern for 20% of Americans and is a top concern for a quarter of Democratic registered voters (26%). Republican registered voters are significantly less concerned about healthcare (12%).
Biden remains the preferred candidate for president over Trump, leading with a margin of 8-percentage points.
- Forty-three percent of Americans report that they would vote for Biden if the election were held today while 35% would vote for Trump. Biden has 47% of the vote share among registered voters, while Trump has 38% of the vote share.
- Sentiments continue to be split across party lines as Democratic registered voters overwhelmingly support Biden (84%), while Republican registered voters overwhelmingly support Trump (82%).
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between May 18-19, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,115 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 957 registered voters, 457 Democratic registered voters, 374 Republican registered voters and 101 independent registered voters. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 3.6 percentage points for all registered voters, ± 5.2 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 5.8 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 11.1 percentage points for independent registered voters.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]
Kate Silverstein
Media Relations, US
Public Affairs
+1 718 755-8829
[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 5,000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.
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