A new Political IQ survey found that 62% of voters nationwide now believe the worst of the coronavirus is still to come. That’s down six points from the all-time high level of pessimism reached two weeks ago. However, it’s unchanged from a month ago, and up six points from pre-election levels of concern.
Twenty-one percent (21%) now believe the worst is behind us. That’s up three points from a week ago.
Thirty-four percent (34%) of Republicans now believe the worst of the pandemic is behind us. That’s up ten points from two weeks ago, but still not back to the pre-election levels of optimism.
Just 16% of Independents and 14% of Democrats believe the worst is behind us. Those figures have changed little in recent weeks.
Men are somewhat more optimistic than women. Private sector workers are more optimistic than government employees.
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from December 10-12, 2020. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Most respondents were contacted online or via text while 199 were contacted using automated phone polling techniques. Online respondents were selected from a list of Registered Voters and through a process of Random Digital Engagement. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was 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.
