Report: Americans Concerned about Return to Schools, Favor Virtual Instruction

The July 2020 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,513 adults in the United States about the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, school reopenings, wearing face masks, and the Black Lives Matter protests.

Impacts of COVID-19

With over 4.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, one third of Americans (33%) now know someone in recovery from coronavirus, or have had coronavirus themselves. This is an increase from 21% at the beginning of May. Another 13% know someone who has died from the disease. In all, 46% of Americans know someone who has either contracted or passed away from COVID-19.

A majority of Americans are wearing face masks, and see mask-wearing as an effective way to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In July, 48% reported wearing a mask whenever they leave the house; that number has risen to 56%, with an additional 33% wearing a mask depending on their activity. Over half of Americans (54%) believe that wearing a face mask helps prevent the spread of coronavirus a lot, with another 24% agreeing that it helps somewhat.

Democrats are much more likely to wear masks: 82% of Democrats wear a mask whenever they leave the house, compared to 27% of Republicans. Similarly, 83% of Democrats see masks as highly effective, whereas only 20% of Republicans believe this to be true.

Overall, Americans remain extremely worried about the pandemic. Nearly two-thirds (63%) are either extremely or moderately concerned about an outbreak in their local area, a slight decrease from June but still reflecting a level of worry not seen since April. Two-thirds (66%) of Democrats are extremely concerned, as are 34% of Independents and 10% of Republicans.

The Future of the Pandemic: School Reopenings and the COVID-19 Vaccine

Americans are deeply concerned about sending kids back to school in the fall. Nearly half (45%) are very uncomfortable with reopening schools and universities, and 15% are somewhat uncomfortable. Only 36% feel comfortable with the idea. Even fewer -- just 26% -- believe that schools should be fully reopened in-person. A larger share of Americans prefer schools to use a hybrid in-person/virtual approach (34%) or go completely virtual (25%). The youngest Americans are most likely to prefer virtual classrooms: 37% want to go virtual, versus 20% supporting in-person classes.

Americans remain worried that state reopenings will cause an increase in coronavirus cases. Nearly two-thirds are either extremely (43%) or somewhat (20%) worried, unchanged from one month ago.

A plurality of Americans (45%) would take a coronavirus vaccine, but substantial numbers are either unsure about it (27%), or not planning to take a vaccine at all (28%). Democrats are more likely than Republicans to want a COVID-19 vaccine. However, only 61% of Democrats are planning to take it, with 30% unsure about the treatment.

Government Response to COVID-19

A majority (51%) of Americans are not satisfied at all with the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has remained level since June. Fully 83% of Democrats are not satisfied at all, compared to 49% of Independents and 15% of Republicans.

For the first time since Civiqs began asking in March, a majority of Americans (50%) are also not satisfied with their state and local government’s response to the pandemic. The percent of Americans who are satisfied with how their local governments are dealing with COVID-19 has fallen from 60% in May, to 53% in June, and 49% in July.

While there is a large partisan split when evaluating the federal government’s handling of the pandemic, Democrats and Republicans are more in agreement on their evaluation of state governments. Only 9% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans are completely satisfied with their local government’s response; a quarter (24%) of Democrats and 30% of Republicans are not satisfied at all.

Black Lives Matter Protests

As nationwide protests against racism and police brutality continue into their second month, most Americans (50%) support the protests. More Americans think that the police are using too much force on the protests (46%), than that the police are doing a good job (16%) or not doing enough (32%).

Cable news viewership accounts for much of Americans’ division on attitudes towards the protests. Three-quarters (73%) of frequent Fox viewers think that the police are not doing enough to contain the protests, and 85% oppose the protests. In contrast, 91% of frequent MSNBC viewers support the protests and 80% say the police are using too much force.

Please visit civiqs.com for additional daily updates on Americans’ level of concern about the coronavirus epidemic, and views of the response to the coronavirus outbreak by the U.S. government and state and local governments.

Civiqs surveyed 1,513 adults in the United States from July 26-29, 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 1.04. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.6% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.