Increasing pessimism about ‘return to normal’ by June from COVID-19 crisis, shows poll
Optimism over the coronavirus outbreak coming to an end in a few months has declined in most countries surveyed by Ipsos since March in the latest global poll.
In mid-March, majorities of people in most countries surveyed believed the COVID-19 crisis was a relatively short-term crisis which would be resolved by June, and life would return to normal.
This optimism has continuously declined in about half the countries polled since March 12-14 as citizens appear to be settling in for the long haul. In a survey of 28,000 people across 15 countries conducted from April 2 to 4, the respondents most negative about a recovery by June are in Japan (19%), the United Kingdom (27%), and Australia (32%).
On the other end, those most optimistic about a June recovery are in Vietnam (92%), Brazil (85%) and Mexico (84%).
The biggest change we have seen in opinions since mid-March about a June recovery have been in countries where optimism has declined. This is led by Canada down 25 percentage points, followed by France (-23), Italy, Japan and the U.K. (-22).
Overall, these findings show that in countries where there has been a large movement in opinion about a June recovery, the sentiment turned more negative than positive.
