Poll: U.S. optimism about COVID situation reaches new high

For the first time in Gallup’s trend, a majority of Americans (60%) perceive the coronavirus situation in the U.S. as getting better, while 26% say it is staying the same and 14% believe it is getting worse. This record-high optimism likely reflects the steep decline in new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. in late January and early February. Gallup previously documented a strong relationship between changes in COVID infection rates and Americans’ assessment of the situation. When the percentage of new COVID-19 cases spiked in the summer and fall, majorities of Americans said the situation was getting worse.

Last April, when Gallup first asked Americans for their views on the COVID-19 situation in the U.S., 56% said it was getting worse, while 29% said it was getting better and 15% said it was staying the same. Through mid-June, roughly four in 10 Americans said the situation was improving, including a then-record high of 47% during the first week of June.

As COVID-19 cases surged throughout June, following a loosening of business closures in several states, Americans became markedly more pessimistic. In late June, for the first time since April, a majority of Americans (65%) said the situation was getting worse. Majorities of Americans would continue to view the situation as getting worse through mid-August, with a peak of 73% saying so as new cases of the disease surged to over 70,000 in one day.