… Most Americans (62%) think the government’s priority should be preventing the virus from spreading and keeping people from getting sick or dying – a drop of ten percentage points from March when 72% prioritized preventing the virus from spreading. The May survey finds that almost a third of Americans think the government’s main priority should be keeping the economy strong in order to avoid a recession (29%, up eight percentage points from the March 2020 survey).
These changes are due to a dramatic 23-percentage-point decline in the share of Republicans who think the government’s priority should be preventing the virus from spreading and keeping people from getting sick or dying (41% of Republicans in May vs. 64% in March) and a smaller 9-percentage-point decrease for Independents (61% in May vs. 70% in March). Democrats remain statistically unchanged (82% in May vs. 80% in March). …
These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between May 22-26, 2020 on behalf of Public Agenda and USA Today. CONT.
Public Agenda
The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack