6 in 10 Americans say worst is yet to come in coronavirus pandemic: poll

Sixty percent of Americans surveyed in a new poll say the worst is yet to come in the coronavirus pandemic.

Roughly 1 in 3 respondents — 31 percent — said the outbreak is not likely to be a major problem in the U.S., according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released early Sunday.

Broken down by party affiliation, 79 percent of Democrats said the worst is still ahead, while 40 percent of Republicans agreed.

A majority of respondents — 53 percent — also said they are “very” or “somewhat” worried an immediate family member might catch the virus. By comparison, 47 percent said they are not too worried or not worried at all.

A partisan divide was evident in those results as well.

More than 2 in 3 Democrats — 68 percent — said they are worried an immediate family member might be diagnosed with the disease, as did 40 percent of Republicans.

And 56 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans said they expect a major change to their day-to-day lives.

Approximately half of all respondents said they’ve stopped or will stop attending large public gatherings, roughly one-third said they’ve canceled or will cancel travel plans, and about a quarter said they’ve stopped or will stop eating at restaurants.

The new poll of 900 registered voters, conducted between March 11 and March 13, has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.