Poll: Americans divided on whether coronavirus situation is improving or worsening

Americans are evenly divided on whether the coronavirus situation is improving or worsening, according to a poll released Wednesday. 

A total of 41 percent of respondents to the Gallup poll said the situation is getting better, while 39 percent said it is getting worse, a difference within the survey’s 3-percentage-point margin of error. 

Twenty percent, meanwhile, said the situation is the same.

Earlier in the month, 62 percent of respondents said the situation was worsening while 25 percent said it was improving. In the April 7-9 poll, 13 percent said it was remaining the same. 

Perception is split along partisan lines, although more members of all partisan groups in the new survey are saying the situation is improving. 

A total of 69 percent of Republican respondents say the pandemic is getting better in the U.S., an increase of more than 20 percentage points in a month, with 13 percent now saying it’s getting worse.

For Democrats surveyed, 59 percent say the situation is worsening, which is 20 percentage points lower than earlier in the month, and 21 percent say it is improving.  Independents in the poll are evenly split, with 39 percent believing the situation is getting better and 39 percent saying it’s getting worse. 

The poll comes after stay-at-home orders across the country are believed to have flattened the infection curve, although new coronavirus cases are being recorded across the nation daily. 

States and federal governments are now considering how to reopen their economies while attempting to prevent a possible resurgence. President Trump has announced that the decisions to reopen will be left up to the governors of the states. 

Gallup’s poll surveyed 3,382 American adults above age 18 between April 17 and 19.