Most Americans say the virus pandemic is out of control, ABC News poll finds

WASHINGTON, DC -- As President Donald Trump is leaving office, just 1 in 10 Americans say the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is mostly under control, despite the departing president’s assertions that record case levels are exaggerations, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

As of Tuesday, the virus had infected more than 24 million people in the United States and marked another milestone, with more than 400,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University's tracking.

The nationwide survey shows that large majorities of people of all political affiliations say they think the deadly virus, which arrived in the country a year ago, is only somewhat under control or not at all controlled.

About 1 in 5 Republicans say they think the pandemic is at least mostly under control, with fewer than 1 in 20 regarding it as completely controlled, the survey finds. Democrats are more than twice as likely as those identifying with the GOP to say they perceive the virus as not at all under control.

Overall, the survey also showed interest among a majority of Americans in getting a coronavirus inoculation now that the government is allowing two manufacturers’ vaccines for emergency use. Forty percent say they definitely will get a shot once it becomes available to them and another 23 percent say they probably will. Still, partisan differences exist on vaccine attitudes, too, with about half of Democrats saying they definitely will get vaccinated, compared with about one-quarter of Republicans.

Taken together, the findings from the poll suggests that most Americans are not giving much credence to his persistent attempts to play down the pandemic. Nearly 6 in 10 say they disapprove of the way Trump handled the outbreak — attitudes that have hardly changed since July.

The data also reflects the partisan and ideological cleavages that President-elect Joe Biden will be trying to conquer as he moves at midday Wednesday from a president-in-waiting, exhorting Americans to take safety measures to help slow the virus’s spread, to actually governing the country.

Americans of different political affiliations, the survey finds, see the world differently in terms of their perception of the risk that they or a member of their immediate family might contract the coronavirus. Nearly 8 in 10 Democrats say they are very or somewhat worried about that, compared with nearly 4 in 10 Republicans and slightly more than 6 in 10 independents.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll’s findings about individuals’ willingness to be vaccinated are consistent with other surveys that found Americans’ receptivity to getting a vaccine dipped in September but rebounded later in the fall. There is relatively little polling evidence since vaccines have been in use since December.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 10 through Jan. 13 among a random national sample of 1,002 adults, with 75 percent reached on cellphones and 25 percent on landlines. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the full sample.