Report: Americans Pessimistic on Time Frame for Coronavirus Recovery

The September 2020 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,368 adults in the United States about the seriousness of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, the government’s COVID-19 response, school reopenings, police protests, QAnon, and more.

Coronavirus: Pessimism and Regret

As the U.S. coronavirus outbreak stretches into its seventh month, Americans are increasingly pessimistic about how much longer it will be until the pandemic settles down and things in the United States return to normal. Fully 44% of Americans believe that it will take six months or more. Another 27% say things in the United States will never get back to normal. Only 17% think that a recovery will occur any sooner than three months from now.

When Civiqs last asked this question in April, most Americans (55%) believed that the coronavirus pandemic would be over by the end of June, at the very latest.

In hindsight, 57% of Americans now believe that the U.S. government should have done more in response to the coronavirus outbreak in the spring, when the outbreak began. Only 27% think that the government did enough. Democrats are unified (95%) in saying that the government should have done more. A majority of Independents (55%), and even 15% of Republicans agree.

Over one-quarter (26%) of Americans have had COVID-19 or know someone who has recovered. Currently, 14% of Americans, including 27% of African-Americans, know someone who has died from COVID-19.

Comparing the U.S. Outbreak to Other Countries

Most Americans believe that the coronavirus outbreak has been more serious in the United States than in other countries, and that the U.S. government has done a worse job handling the response. A majority of Americans (53%) see the U.S. outbreak as more serious than other countries; 25% think it has been about the same, and 19% -- mainly Republicans -- believe that the U.S. outbreak has been less serious.

A large percentage (58%) of Americans see the U.S. government’s coronavirus response as worse than other countries. However, 58% of Republicans -- and 67% of frequent Fox News viewers -- believe that the U.S. government has done a better job of handling the pandemic than governments in other countries.

The number of Americans planning to take a potential coronavirus vaccine, if it becomes available, has fallen from 45% in July to 40% now.

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.

School Reopenings

With the start of the new school year, most Americans do not think that school reopenings in their area are going smoothly. One-third (31%) believe that while reopenings have not gotten off to a good start, they will improve later. Another 31% think that school reopenings have not gone smoothly, and do not think that they will improve. Only 17% see school reopenings going smoothly.

Americans are divided on who they think is most responsible for the way that schools have reopened in their area. The largest segment assigns responsibility to their state government (30%). One-quarter (24%) attribute responsibility to school administrators. One in five Americans (20%) -- and a plurality (29%) of Democrats -- think that the Trump administration is most responsible.

Protesting Police Violence

A majority of Americans (55%) agree that kneeling during the national anthem is an acceptable form of protest. In addition, 60% of Americans view player strikes and cancellations of professional sporting events as an acceptable way to protest police violence.

Younger Americans are most supportive of both forms of protest. Kneeling is supported by 68% of Americans aged 18-34 and opposed by only 27%. Cancelling sporting events is acceptable to 72% of those aged 18-34, with just 24% finding this unacceptable.

Belief in QAnon

QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory about “deep state elites” has extensive support among Republican voters. One in three Republicans (33%) believe that the QAnon theory is mostly true. Another 23% of Republicans say that some parts of the QAnon conspiracy are true. Only 13% of Republicans think that it is not true at all. In contrast, 72% of Democrats say the QAnon conspiracy theory is not true at all.

Awareness of QAnon has grown substantially since one year ago. In July 2019, 35% of Americans had never heard of QAnon -- that number has fallen to 14% now. For Republicans, greater awareness has led to greater support. The percentage of Republicans who believe that the QAnon theory is partially or mostly true has grown from 46% one year ago to 56% today.

Civiqs surveyed 1,368 adults in the United States from August 29-September 1, 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 1.05. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.7% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.