Monkeypox and COVID concerns
Hello from SurveyMonkey!
In this week’s newsletter, Victoria is back with an exclusive deep dive on how Americans’ are feeling as monkeypox emerges during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But first, as always, here’s a quick recap of our data in the news and on our blog:
Biden releases student loan forgiveness plan, but inflation concerns remain: 59% of Americans are concerned student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse according to a new CNBC/Momentive survey. Read some of the coverage.
Groups concerned with Monkeypox consistent with groups worried about COVID-19
In the past eight months, SurveyMonkey’s polling has tracked a decline in concern about COVID-19. Since January 2022, worry about the outbreak of coronavirus has fallen by 17 points overall, from 63% to 46% currently. Those “very worried” about COVID-19 has nearly halved from January as well, from 30% to 16% today.
After more than two years tracking concern about COVID-19, monkeypox has emerged as a new threat. Concerns about monkeypox are now nearly identical to concerns about COVID-19, with 47% of adults saying they are worried about the outbreak of monkeypox in the U.S.
Although general concerns about COVID-19 and monkeypox are about even, when asked directly which they are more worried about catching, twice as many people say they are more concerned about getting COVID-19 than monkeypox (37% vs. 14%), with 40% of adults in the U.S. say they are equally worried about both.
Like COVID-19, general concern about monkeypox is higher among people of color than white adults: 73% of Black adults, 64% of Asian adults and 60% of Hispanic adults say they are worried about the outbreak of monkeypox, while just 37% of whites and 45% of adults of another race said the same.
LGBTQ+ community’s concern about monkeypox leads to action
Two in three (67%) LGBTQ+ individuals say they are generally worried about the outbreak of monkeypox, significantly higher than the 45% of heterosexual, cisgender individuals who say the same. When asked directly which they are more worried about catching, 24% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are more worried about catching monkeypox compared to 13% of heterosexual, cisgender adults who say the same.
LGBTQ+ adults are much more likely to personally know someone in their local community who currently has monkeypox: 2% of adults overall–but 12% of LGBTQ+ adults–say they know a person with monkeypox. Further, LGBTQ+ individuals are also much more likely to get the monkeypox vaccine: 12% of LGBTQ+ adults are vaccinated, compared to 2% of heterosexual, cisgender individuals and 3% of adults overall.
Seniors are more worried about COVID-19 than monkeypox
Seniors (age 65+) in the U.S. are generally more worried about COVID-19 than monkeypox (51% vs 44%). Contrastingly, young people aged 18-34 are generally more worried about monkeypox (52% vs 47%).
When asked directly which they are more worried about catching, about half (51%) of seniors say they are more worried about catching COVID-19, compared to 29% of young people who say the same. Young adults are nearly 4 times more likely than seniors to say they are more worried about catching monkeypox (23% vs 6%).
Parents remain focused on COVID-19 ahead of the upcoming school-year
Ahead of the upcoming (or newly started!) school year, parents’ concerns are nearly identical to concerns among the general public. Parents with children under age 18 say they are equally worried about their child getting COVID-19 and monkeypox (51%), or are more concerned about their child getting COVID-19 (28%), and only 14% say they are more worried about their child getting monkeypox.
Our February newsletter revealed that about half (55%) of parents trusted school and district leaders to make the right decisions about COVID-19 precautions, with Republican parents being least likely to trust leaders (69% of Democrat, 56% of independent, and 43% of Republican parents trust school/district leaders).
Our latest data demonstrates that schools are making progress with parents: 67% of parents trust their school leaders to make the right decisions about COVID-19 precautions, with Republican parents being only slightly less likely to trust school leaders than other parents (71% of Democrat parents, 67% of Independent parents, and 64% of Republican parents trust their school leaders).
However, Republican parents hold reservations about vaccines. Only about half (52%) of Republican parents trust school leaders to make the right decisions about COVID-19 vaccination requirements, compared to 63% of independent and 73% of Democrat parents.
That’s all for this week! Thanks as always for reading.