Reaction to Covid-19

Apr 21, 2020

Q. Which of the following is closer to your personal views of the Covid-19 outbreak?

	20/04	13/04	06/04	29/03	22/03
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	14%	13%	17%	18%	33%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	63%	59%	46%	39%	39%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	24%	29%	37%	43%	28%
Base (n)	1,051	1,068	1,069	1,086	1,034

		Gender			Age Group
	Total	Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	14%	16%	11%	23%		10%	9%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	63%	58%	67%	56%		64%	67%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	24%	26%	22%	21%		26%	24%
Base (n)	1,051	525	526	341		325	385

The proportion of people judging the response to the Covid-19 outbreak has been steadily increasing for the past four weeks and has now reached 63% (up from 39% last month).

Apr 14, 2020

Q. Which of the following is closer to your personal views of the Covid-19 outbreak?

	13/04	06/04	29/03	22/03
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	13%	17%	18%	33%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	59%	46%	39%	39%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	29%	37%	43%	28%
Base (n)	1,068	1,069	1,086	1,034

		Gender			Age Group
	Total	Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	13%	16%	10%	19%		13%	7%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	59%	58%	60%	52%		63%	60%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	29%	26%	31%	29%		23%	33%
Base (n)	1,068	537	531	343		340	385

Over half of people (59%) now believe the reaction to the threat of Covid-19 has been about right.

Mar 31, 2020

Q. Which of the following is closer to your personal views of the Covid-19 outbreak?

	29/03	22/03
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	18%	33%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	39%	39%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	43%	28%
Base (n)	1,086	1,034

		Gender			Age Group
	Total	Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	18%	20%	17%	24%		19%	12%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	39%	42%	36%	39%		39%	39%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	43%	39%	47%	37%		42%	49%
Base (n)	1,086	539	547	341		362	383

Now 43% of participants believe the threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated compared to 28% who said the same last week.
Women (47%) and participants over 55 years old (49%) are more likely say the treat has been under-estimated than men (39%) and 18-34 year olds (37%).

Mar 24, 2020

Q. Which of the following is closer to your personal views of the Covid-19 outbreak?

		Gender			Age Group			Location
	Total	Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+	Capital	Non-Capital
There has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19	33%	36%	30%	39%		37%	23%	34%	30%
The response to the threat of Covid-19 is about right	39%	40%	39%	40%		33%	44%	39%	39%
The threat of Covid-19 has been under-estimated	28%	24%	32%	21%		30%	33%	27%	31%
Base (n)	1,096	519	515	342		327	365	703	331

A third of people believe there has been an over-reaction to the threat of Covid-19. Men (36%) and those aged 18-34 (39%) are more likely to think there has been an over-reaction than women (30%) and those aged 55+ (23%).
39% think the reaction has been proportionate to the threat and 28% believe the threat has been under-estimated.
Those who think there has been an over-reaction are less concerned about the threat of Covid-19 (69% very/somewhat concerned, compared to 92% who think the threat has been under-estimated) and think they are less likely to contract the virus (38% to 49% very/somewhat likely to catch Covid-19).

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