Majority worried about coronavirus but confident on health care system response: poll

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With no stop in the spread of coronavirus in the United States, a new national poll indicates that a majority of American voters are worried they or someone they know will become infected with the virus.

And nearly six in ten questioned in a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday said they’re concerned the coronavirus will disrupt their daily lives.

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The survey shows that 54 percent are either very or somewhat concerned about infection, with 45 percent saying they’re not concerned.

Fifty-eight percent said they’re either very or somewhat worried that the spread of the virus will disrupt their daily lives, even if they or someone they know doesn’t get infected

There’s a sharp partisan divide on both questions – with a majority of Democrats concerned and a majority of Republicans not concerned.

The poll also suggests that more Americans have confidence in the U.S. health care system that the federal government to respond to the coronavirus. Two-thirds of those polled said the U.S. health care system is up to the task. But that number drops to 53 percent when asked if the federal government can handle the response to the coronavirus.

President Trump’s underwater on the issue: with 43 percent approving of how he’s handling the coronavirus and 49 percent disapproving. As expected, there’s a sharp partisan divide with 87 percent of Republicans approving of the job the president’s doing and 83 percent of Democrats disapproving of the job Trump’s doing handling the virus.

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The Quinnipiac University Poll was conducted March 5-8, with 1,261 self-identified registered voters nationwide questioned by live telephone operators. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

This was the first time Quinnipiac University asked questions regarding the coronavirus, so no comparisons to previous polling could be made.