Worries about coronavirus surge, as most Americans expect a recession – or worse

Americans are increasingly alarmed by the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. Two-thirds of U.S. adults – including majorities in all major demographic and partisan groups – say COVID-19 is a “significant crisis.” Also, nearly two-thirds say the outbreak will cause a recession or depression in the U.S., including nearly one-in-five who anticipate a depression.

• The national – and personal – economic impacts of the coronavirus
• Views on the personal health threat posed by the virus
• Perceptions of how officials, public have responded to COVID-19
• Trump’s approval rating rises
• Most Americans are confident hospitals can handle the needs of the seriously ill during COVID-19 outbreak
• See all of our COVID-19 coverage

Young workers likely to be hard hit as COVID-19 strikes a blow to restaurants, other service sector jobs

Nearly one-in-four U.S. workers – 38.1 million out of 157.5 million – are employed in one of the industries most likely to feel an immediate impact from the COVID-19 outbreak. Among the most vulnerable are workers in retail trade (10% of all workers) and food services and drinking places (6%). And nearly half of workers ages 16 to 24 are employed in service-sector establishments.

• Hispanics more likely than Americans overall to see coronavirus as a major threat to health and finances
• More than half of U.S. households have some investment in the stock market

Americans who get news mostly through social media least likely to follow coronavirus coverage

More than half of people whose most common pathway to political and election news is through social media say they have encountered made-up news about COVID-19. And these social media news consumers – 18% of U.S. adults overall – fare comparatively poorly when it comes to answering a question about when a vaccine might be available. Cable and national TV viewers are most likely to be following the story closely.

• New data available in our Election News Pathways tool

Introducing pewmethods: An R package for working with survey data

Our new R package was originally envisioned as an internal way to reuse, maintain and share code. But since many of the problems that these functions were designed to solve are not unique to our projects, we’re making the package publicly available for other researchers who might find it useful.

• Exploring survey data with the pewmethods R package
• Weighting survey data with the pewmethods R package

Most Americans don’t see Trump as religious; fewer than half say they think he’s Christian

About half of never-married Americans have used an online dating site or app

Use our Global Indicators Database to analyze international public opinion

New, emerging jobs and the green economy are boosting demand for analytical skills

From our research