Reuters/Ipsos: President Trump diagnosed with COVID-19

Washington, DC, October 4, 2020

The latest public opinion poll from Reuters/Ipsos finds that most Americans are aware that President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with coronavirus/COVID-19 (94%). Sixty-three percent believe that President Trump does, in fact, have coronavirus/COVID-19, while 12% do not believe it, and 26% are unsure. Two-thirds of Americans believe that if President Trump had taken coronavirus/COVID-19 more seriously, he probably would not have been infected with it (65%). A majority of Americans say that either nothing President Trump has said about the virus is true (30%) or that just some of what he has said is true (25%). Three-quarters of Americans remain concerned about the on-going spread of coronavirus/COVID-19 (76%), and 56% of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus/COVID-19.

On the campaign front, former Vice President Joe Biden maintains his lead (51%) over President Trump (41%) among likely voters. A majority of Americans believe that the presidential debates should be delayed until President Trump has been cleared of coronavirus/COVID-19 (59%). Strong majorities also believe that both the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign should stop holding in-person rallies (67%), and cease door-knocking and ‘get out the vote’ efforts (56%).

For full results, please refer to the following annotated questionnaire. 

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 2-3, 2020, on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English. The sample includes 854 registered voters and 596 likely voters.

The sample for this study was randomly drawn from Ipsos’ online panel, partner online panel sources, and “river” sampling and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. Ipsos uses fixed sample targets, unique to each study, in drawing a sample. After a sample has been obtained from the Ipsos panel, Ipsos calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. Population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2018 American Community Survey data. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on demographics. Posthoc weights were made to the population characteristics on gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and education. 

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=1,005, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-5.0 percentage points)./p>

The poll also has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for registered voters and plus or minus 4.6 percentage points for likely voters.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Kate Silverstein
Media Relations, US
Public Affairs
+1 718 755-8829
[email protected]

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