Poll: Even the coronavirus is viewed through a partisan lens episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 16, 2020 · 3 MIN

Poll: Even the coronavirus is viewed through a partisan lens

from Meet the Press Archive · host NBC News

In a new NBC News / WSJ poll, respondents make coronavirus choices based on their partisan lean. The full episode on video is available on MeetThePress.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In a new NBC News / WSJ poll, respondents make coronavirus choices based on their partisan lean.

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Poll: Even the coronavirus is viewed through a partisan lens

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Welcome to the lid from me the press. I'm Carrie Dan. If you are a frequent lid listener, or even if you go outside every once in a while, you probably know that the way Americans feel about politics shapes a lot about how they feel about not politics. Like, would you let your kid play football?

Is a college degree worth of money? What kind of community is the best kind to live in? Heck, people even kind of have politically based opinions about whether or not you should get well done steak or medium rare steak. If, of course, you should order a steak at all.

So in some ways, everybody's kind of used to these political divides and polling. But over the weekend, we had a new NBC News Wall Street Journal poll that showed just how much partisan divides are contributing to how worried Americans are or are not about the coronavirus threat. This comes at a time when tens of millions of kids are staying home from school, when many more millions of adults are working at home. Financial markets are a mess and small businesses really aren't sure how they're going to keep their doors open if the current situation continues.

But still, there are very different reactions out there in America to the global pandemic and what to do about it. There is a huge partisan division not only about the president's performance around the crisis, which maybe is to be expected, but also about how people are behaving, which goes to show how much the president's early messaging, which downplayed the effects of the virus and suggested that the media was being deliberately alarmist about it, made a big impact on his supporters. Okay, here's what our poll found. Are you worried that a family member might get sick from coronavirus?

Seven in 10 Democrats say yes, but just four in 10 Republicans say the same thing. Is the worst of the coronavirus story yet to come? Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say yes. Are you stopping or planning to stop large gatherings?

Same again, Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say yes, and the same goes for canceling travel plans. And asked about whether they approve or disapprove of President Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis. 81% of Republicans say yes, they approve. The number for Democrats to approve of the president's job performance?

13%. 13%. That's like smaller than the percentage of people who get completely dressed for work when they're working from home, including like a tie and shoes and socks. I see you all you people on video conference calls today wearing a nice business shirt and sweatpants.

I see you and I do not judge you. That's a live for us. If you'd like to hear more of this free audio podcast, you can always download us on your favorite podcast app. Beatboxing actually has hidden health benefits.

It can help strengthen and protect your voice from injury. See healthy living differently with manual life. Visit manualife.ca slash health. Yeah.

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This episode is 3 minutes long.

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This episode was published on March 16, 2020.

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In a new NBC News / WSJ poll, respondents make coronavirus choices based on their partisan lean. The full episode on video is available on MeetThePress.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our...

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