Just 16% of voters now believe the worst of the Coronavirus is behind us. A Ballotpedia national survey of 1,000 Registered Voters found that 64% believe the worst is still to come.
That’s quite a change from earlier in the month when 29% believed the worst was behind us and only 42% took the more pessimistic view. In fact, those earlier numbers were the most optimistic yet recorded. The current numbers are the most pessimistic.
- In mid-April, just 16% believed the worst was behind us. That matches the current numbers. At that time, 60% feared the worst was still to come, four points lower than the current total.
- Later in April, 23% held the optimistic view while 49% disagreed.
- However, in mid-May, confidence fell. The number thinking the worst was behind us fell to 17%. At the same time, the number fearing the worst was still to come jumped seven points to 56%.
Given this history, it seems likely that the emotional roller-coaster will continue.
The pessimistic view is now shared by 75% of Democrats, 62% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans.
Those who are out working and interacting with customers and co-workers are a bit more optimistic. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of them believe the worst is behind us. Among those who have no in-person interactions, just 11% share that view.
Methodology
The online survey of 1,000 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen on June 20, 2020. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied to the overall sample and lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
