There's no doubt Americans are worried about the novel coronavirus pandemic. A new poll from Monmouth University released Monday reveals that 57 percent of those surveyed consider it their biggest concern right now, well ahead of related things like job security and health care costs, indicating that health in and of itself is the top priority. But, at the same time, many people still believe the U.S. can limit the scale of the outbreak before too long.
Of those polled, 25 percent said they were "very confident" the country will achieve some of its goals in the next few weeks, while 37 percent said they were somewhat confident. That means 36 percent are either "not too" confident, or not confident at all. Still, it seems optimism is winning out, as cities and states around the country impose restrictive measures in the hopes of turning the tide, but the numbers are also split along party lines with Republicans predicting a rosier outlook than Democrats.
It looks like a lot of that hope stems from a positive opinion of the country's governors, who have a 72 percent approval rating for how they've dealt with the crisis. Per the poll, though, people are less satisfied with how their peers are handling things — only 38 percent of those surveyed gave a thumbs up to the American public's response.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted via telephone between March 18 to 22, surveying 851 adults in the United States. The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points. See the full results of the poll here.