Pew Coronavirus Survey: Nearly 3-in-4 Believe ‘Worst Is Still to Come’ 

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe President Donald Trump was too slow to respond to the coronavirus crisis while nearly three-quarters believe the “worst is still to come,” according to a Pew Research survey released on Thursday.

The poll found that 65% believe Trump was “too slow” while 34% think Trump was “quick” in his response. Americans are also fearful, with 73% believing the “worst is still to come” while only 26% believe the “worst is still behind us.”

A striking finding in our latest survey on the #covid19outbreak: nearly 3-in-4 Americans say in thinking about the problems the country is facing from the outbreak, the worst is still to come. https://t.co/NL2YVYGRc4 pic.twitter.com/KgwAce3xbw

— Michael Dimock (@MichaelDimock) April 17, 2020

In addition, 66% of Americans “say their greater concern is that state governments will lift restrictions on public activity too quickly” compared to 32% say they are more concerned about governments not lifting restrictions “quickly enough.”

The poll also found that “nearly half of Republicans (47%) say it is acceptable for officials to fault the administration’s response” while 85% of Democrats “think is acceptable for elected officials to criticize how the administration has addressed the outbreak.” Overall, 66% believe it is acceptable to criticize Trump’s response.

The national poll, “conducted April 7 to 12 among 4,917 U.S. adults on the American Trends Panel,” has a margin of error of +/- 2.1 percentage points.