Americans overwhelmingly believe that Coronavirus will soon get worse. A new poll finds 80% of people think the pandemic will worsen before it gets better.
The CNN poll found that huge majorities think ‘the worst is yet to come’ on the global pandemic. This belief cuts across party lines and all educational backgrounds, age groups and races.
Just 17% of respondents thought ‘the worst is behind us’, while 3% had no opinion.
Even Republicans and Americans who approve of President Donald Trump agreed the worst part of the pandemic lay in the future. The President’s supporters agreed by a margin of 70% to 26%.
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Seventy percent of Republicans and 80% of Democrats also agreed with the proposition. The belief is almost uniform across different age demographics and changes little based on the level of education attained.
A majority of 55% thought the federal government had done a “poor job preventing the spread of novel coronavirus, sometimes referred to as COVID-19, in the U.S.”
Just 41% approved of the government’s handling of the crisis.
When asked if the “Federal government should be doing more to address that shortage” of vital medical equipment, 69% said yes, while 28% thought the federal government “is doing enough as it is.”
President Trump’s personal approval is up, according to the CNN poll. He enjoys 44% support, while last month just 43% of respondents approved of him.
However, the poll is bad news for the Trump administration more broadly. The response to the pandemic has been widely criticized. Trump has repeatedly clashed with the press and Democratic leaders on the issue.
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
