Americans aren’t thrilled with their own government’s coronavirus response.
Just 47% of respondents said to a recent Pew poll that the US has done a good or excellent job managing the emergency situation created by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Americans even give higher ratings to South Korea and Germany than U.S. for dealing with COVID-19.
According to Pew Research Center, Americans largely agree the U.S. should look beyond its borders for ideas to combat the coronavirus. Nearly half (46%) say the U.S. can learn a great deal from other countries about ways to slow the spread of the virus, while another 38% say it can learn a fair amount. Few say there is not too much (13%) or nothing at all (3%) the U.S. can learn from other countries. There’s more agreement, however, when it comes to information from the Chinese government: 84% of Americans say they place not too much or no trust in information from Beijing regarding the coronavirus outbreak.
Data from the survey also reveals that Americans believe their country can learn from other nations, however, differences in views on this question by race and ethnicity, as well as by level of educational attainment. More than eight-in-ten Americans say the U.S. can learn either a great deal or a fair amount from other countries about ways to slow the spread of the coronavirus. By comparison, fewer than two-in-ten say the U.S. can learn not too much or nothing at all from other countries. Black and Hispanic people are more likely than white people to say the U.S. can learn a great deal from other nations about ways to slow the spread of the coronavirus. And the belief that the U.S. can learn from other countries about COVID-19 is more widespread among Americans with higher levels of education than among those with lower education levels.
The online conducted survey, conducted by members of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, 42% of Americans say the U.S. does too much to help solve world problems, compared with smaller shares who say it does too little (28%) or the right amount (28%).
The new national survey by Pew Research Center, conducted April 29 to May 5, 2020, among 10,957 U.S. adults using the Center’s American Trends Panel, also highlights growing partisan divisions on broad questions about America’s role on the world stage.
