New Polling Shows Increase in Optimism for Economic Outlook

Coronavirus Tracking Update

Overview

The latest data from the Firehouse & Optimus coronavirus tracking poll shows an increase in optimism for the country’s economic outlook. When we began this survey in March, 58% of Americans expected the economy to get worse over the next month. Today, that number is 37%, with 26% expecting the economy to improve. Our numbers also show a continued decline in the support for stay at home restrictions declining with 73% of Americans supporting the restrictions today, down from 82% at the start of the month. Details on these key findings and trendlines for today’s data points are presented below.

Key Points

•  A plurality of Americans expect the economy to get worse over the next month (37%), a sentiment that the majority shared (58%) back when we first started our tracking at the end of March. This is a sign that optimism about the country’s economic outlook is increasing.

• Support for stay at home restrictions has slowly been declining among Americans. Over three quarters of Americans supported the restrictions (82%) at the beginning of the month. That support, however, now sits at 73%.

• President Donald Trump’s approval rating on his handling of the coronavirus outbreak currently sits at 48%. His approval has not shifted much in the past few months, which sat at 49% last month and 51% two months ago.

• In the generic Congressional ballot among 2020 general election likely voters, the Democratic Party is currently seeing an 8 point lead over the Republican Party (47-39). They have held a 7-9 point lead during the past few weeks.

Full Results

The full toplines, crosstabs, and methodology can be found on our GitHub page.