Concerns About Coronavirus Are On The Rise Again
Americans’ concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, which fell substantially from April to June, are now rising again, a new HuffPost/YouGov survey finds.
Forty-eight percent of Americans now say they’re very worried about the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., up from 36% at the beginning of last month although still shy of the peak level of concern reported in early April.
Throughout the past month, the virus has made unwelcome inroads into the nation’s red states, but the shift in concern appears to be driven largely by Democrats. Roughly three-quarters of Democrats, 73%, now say they’re very concerned, up from 50% who said the same at the start of June. The level of similar concerns among the GOP remained roughly stable ― 21% were very concerned in the June poll and 25% in the latest.
Geographically, concern rose most sharply among residents of states in the West, from 31% who were very concerned in June to 52% in the latest poll, putting that region on a par with the hard-hit Northeast. There was also a notable uptick in concern among suburbanites, with the share who call themselves very concerned rising from one-third to 55%.
Just 13% of Americans say there shouldn’t be any coronavirus-related restrictions in place where they live. Twenty-eight percent say there should be restrictions on a few nonessential businesses and activities, with most allowed to be open; 30% think most should be closed with a few reopened, and 20% think all nonessential businesses and activities should be shut down. Eighteen percent of Americans say there are too many restrictions where they live, with 40% saying the restrictions are at about the right level, and 34% say that there are not enough restrictions in place.
Most Americans also say they’re continuing to take precautions against coronavirus in their own lives, although the precise results depend significantly on how the question is framed. To test this, respondents were split into two groups. Those asked a...
