An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday shows two-thirds of Americans are concerned they or someone they know will contract the coronavirus. After the acting president’s error-filled, useful information-free Oval Office speech to the planet Wednesday, they should be. Financial markets Thursday had their worst day since the Black Monday crash of October 1987. It was the market’s equivalent of a parliamentary vote of no confidence. And it was overwhelming.
Naturally, the new polling breaks along partisan lines:
Among Democrats, 83% are concerned about getting coronavirus, including 47% who are very concerned, and among Republicans, 56% are concerned, including only 15% who are very concerned. Only 17% of Democrats are not concerned while a larger 44% of Republicans are not concerned.
Overall, 54% of Americans disapprove of the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and 43% approve. CNN’s Keith Boykin wants to know who the the 43% are:
Major sports and entertainment franchises are shutting down to prevent contagion from spreading via their events. Hand sanitizer is disappearing from supermarket shelves. Even the conservative Washington Examiner warned readers Thursday, “Italy, which currently has over 12,000 cases and has now had to be completely shut down, was about where we are now just 12 days ago.”
But while over half the country is stocking up and hunkering down to ride out and/or slow the pandemic, nearly half of Republicans are lining up to be the virus’ hot lunch.
The average death rate the World Health Organization cites currently for those contracting the virus is 3.4%. But that rate is substantially higher for older patients. A transmission vector for Donald Trump’s coronavirus disinformation, Fox News can expect to lose a lot of viewers. More than half its audience is over 65.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) standing beside her, Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton announced Thursday her extrapolation that 100,000 people in the state have already contracted the coronavirus. That number will be contested, primarily because of a continued lack of testing to support it. Nevertheless, DeWine has closed schools for three weeks and banned gatherings of over 100 people.
Talking Points Memo has been tracking national testing data compiled by the COVID-19 Tracking Project. Josh Marshall produced this chart:
Still woefully behind the rest of the planet in its response, the U.S. may eventually get its act in gear. For now, ABC reports, “relatively few Americans have changed their behavior since the coronavirus has landed here.”
I’m not going to waste my time arguing with a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch. — Matt Hooper, Jaws
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