Report: One in Four Americans Know Someone with the Coronavirus; Job Losses in the Tens of Millions

The April 2020 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,600 adults in the United States about the coronavirus outbreak, the government’s handling of the response, and the social and economic impacts of the crisis.

Overview

While the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S. continues to grow, most Americans’ attitudes about the outbreak have changed little since Civiqs’ last national survey on March 30, 2020. As of April 14, 2020, nearly a quarter (23%) of Americans know someone who has been infected by the coronavirus or are infected themselves -- an increase from 13% two weeks ago.

Job losses have led fully 8% of U.S. adults to file for unemployment over the past month. Remarkably, this number could be greatly understating the true unemployment rate. Another 4% of adults -- approximately ten million people -- have attempted to file for unemployment but have not been successful.

Other impacts of the coronavirus outbreak were already evident by the end of March, indicating that the damage -- as extensive as it is -- is not worsening. The percent reporting an outbreak in their local area has increased only minimally, from 55% to 57%. Two-thirds (67%) of Americans are still spending nearly every day at home, unchanged from the last survey. The percent of Americans with jobs before the outbreak who have been laid off or furloughed is unchanged at 21%. Households experiencing lost income increased from 39% at the end of March to 43% in mid-April.

Please visit civiqs.com for additional daily updates on Americans’ level of concern about the coronavirus epidemic, and reactions to the government’s response.

Health Concerns

Americans remain wary of the coronavirus outbreak, but their concerns are beginning to subside. The changes over the last two weeks are marginal, but consistent. Currently, 72% of Americans are extremely or moderately concerned about the coronavirus reaching their local area, down from 77% two weeks ago. Americans also see a decreasing likelihood of a coronavirus outbreak in their area: At the end of March, 12% saw an outbreak as a little likely or not likely at all; this is now 19%. The percent extremely or somewhat worried about getting sick with the coronavirus has fallen from 60% to 55%.

As the U.S. health system struggles to expand its coronavirus testing capacity, Americans remain skeptical that they could get a coronavirus test if they wanted one. Most Americans (60%) are not very confident or not confident at all in their ability to get a test. Two weeks ago, this proportion was 61%; nearly identical.

Jobless Claims and Unemployment

Over the past month, 22 million Americans filed unemployment claims, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Civiqs’ survey results indicate that the actual number of people who have lost their jobs due to coronavirus may be as much as 50% greater than that.

Civiqs asked respondents if they have either filed for unemployment over the past month, or if they have tried to file but have not been successful. Among all adults, 8% reported filing for unemployment, in line with the official number of claims. However, an additional 4% -- approximately ten million more Americans -- have attempted to file and not been successful.

Asked directly about their current employment status, 14% of American adults reported that they have been laid off or temporarily furloughed from their jobs. Among those employed before the outbreak, one in five (21%) are now not receiving paychecks. These results place the total, survey-based estimate of the actual number of newly unemployed Americans at between approximately 30 and 35 million people.

The job losses are most severely felt among Americans without a college degree. One in four (25%) non-college educated adults have been forced out of work; this group was already employed at lower rates to begin with. In comparison, 16% of college graduates and just 8% of those with postgraduate degrees have been laid off or furloughed.

Unemployment, at least, is not increasing. The percentage of Americans who currently report being laid off or furloughed is the same as it was at the end of March.

Government Response

Americans are much more satisfied with the response by their state and local governments to the coronavirus outbreak than they are with the response by the U.S. government. Seventy percent of Americans are either completely satisfied (21%) or mostly satisfied (49%) with their local governments’ response to the outbreak. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all express roughly equal satisfaction with their state and local governments’ response to the coronavirus.

In contrast, only 42% of Americans are satisfied -- and 56% are dissatisfied -- with the U.S. government’s current response to the coronavirus outbreak. A majority of Americans (54%) also disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus. Satisfaction with the U.S. government’s response is 82% among Republicans and 10% among Democrats. Satisfaction with President Trump’s handling of the response is 87% among Republicans and 6% among Democrats.

Support for a nationwide quarantine, in which only essential travel is permitted to control the spread of the coronavirus, fell by ten percentage points between late March (69%) and today (59%). Two weeks ago, a quarantine received majority support (52%) from Republicans, but it is supported by only 35% of Republicans now. Democrats remain strongly supportive of a nationwide quarantine: 85% today, versus 89% two weeks ago.

The total number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in the United States is a subject of controversy. Only 16% of Americans believe that the official count of deaths caused by coronavirus is accurate: 42% believe that more people have died from coronavirus than the official count, and 24% believe that fewer people have died from coronavirus than the official count. The divergence is driven by partisanship and cable news viewership. Nearly half of Republicans (45%) and frequent Fox News viewers (45%) believe that the official count of coronavirus deaths is overstated. Two-thirds of Democrats (68%) and 74% of frequent MSNBC viewers believe that the official count of coronavirus deaths is lower than the true number.

Civiqs surveyed 1,600 adults in the United States from April 11-14, 2020. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of adults in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.14. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.6% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.