Essential Report Download this week's Report

Coronavirus concerns and government actions

Feb 11, 2020

Q. To what extent are you concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus in Australia?

Q. Do you think the Government is doing enough to protect Australians from the threat of Coronavirus?

		Age			Federal Voting Intention
	Total	18-34	35-54	55+	Labor	Coalition	Greens	NET: Other
Government is doing enough	49%	43%	45%	57%	43%	68%	34%	37%
Government is not doing enough	30%	38%	35%	19%	38%	16%	38%	40%
Don’t know	21%	19%	20%	24%	19%	15%	28%	23%
Base (n)	1,056	341	366	349	354	320	113	155

25% are very concerned about the threat of the Coronavirus to Australia and 43% are quite concerned. 26% are not at all concerned and 6% say they are not at all concerned.
49% of participants believe the government is doing enough to protect Australians from Coronavirus; those over 55 years old (57%) and Coalition voters (68%) are most likely to say that the Government is doing enough.
Those aged 18-54 year old (37%), with dependent children (35%), Greens voters (38%) and other/independent party voters (40%) are more likely to believe that the government isn’t doing enough.

Q. To what extent do you support or oppose the following measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus to Australia?

	NET: Agree	NET: Disagree	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree	Unsure
Stopping all flights to and from China until more is known about the disease	85%	10%	59%	25%	8%	2%	5%
Stopping anyone from entering the country who has who has been to China in the last 14 days	84%	11%	59%	25%	8%	3%	5%
People entering Australia from affected areas in China will be quarantined on Christmas Island for 14 days	82%	12%	59%	23%	8%	4%	6%

NET: Agree		Age			Federal Voting Intention
NET: Agree	Total	18-34	35-54	55+	Labor	Coalition	Greens	NET: Other
Stopping all flights to and from China until more is known about the disease	85%	77%	83%	92%	84%	91%	72%	82%
Stopping anyone from entering the country who has who has been to China in the last 14 days	84%	76%	84%	90%	84%	90%	71%	86%
People entering Australia from affected areas in China will be quarantined on Christmas Island for 14 days	82%	73%	82%	90%	79%	92%	67%	83%
Base (n)	1,056	341	366	349	354	320	113	155

More than four-fifths of participants agree with each of the three measures to limit to the spread of the Coronavirus; stopping all flights to and from China has 85% agreement, stopping anyone entering the country who has been to China in the last 14 days has 84% agreement, and 82% agree that people entering Australia from affected areas in China should be quarantined.
Participants over 55 years old and Coalition voters are more likely to agree with these measures, than participants 18-34 and Greens voters.

Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.

Download this week's Report

Essential Report

Labor

47%

Coalition

44%