Public attitudes to Coronavirus – June and early July summary
This report includes some high level findings from recent polling work on public attitudes to the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland. Reports covering earlier survey work were published on 8 May and 12 June 2020.
1. Impact of Coronavirus
Threat perception
Respondents were asked what level of threat they thought Coronavirus posed to a range of dimensions of life. As shown in Figure 1, the greatest threat was perceived to be to ‘the world’, followed by ‘your country’, ‘your community’ and ‘you personally’. The perceived threat to ‘your country’ has fallen since the end of May.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Base (n=500).
Financial impact
Respondents were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with a statement about the financial impact of Coronavirus, and the perceived level of threat to their job or business. As shown in Figure 2, the majority agreed that there will be a financial impact on them and their family, and this has remained stable since the end of May. There has however been a decrease since the end of April when 70% agreed there would be a financial impact.[1] Two-fifths of those in employment perceived a threat to their job or business and this has remained relatively stable since the end of May.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Base: all respondents (n=500), those in employment (n=287-323)
Respondents were also asked how concerned they were about the impact of Coronavirus on their household finances. As shown in Figure 3, throughout June and into July, between a fifth and a quarter of respondents were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned about being able to pay their bills, that they will have a job, and that they will be able to provide for their household. These proportions have remained relatively stable since the end of May.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Base (n=500).
Health impacts
To understand the perceived health risk of Coronavirus, respondents were asked how serious they thought catching the virus would be for their health. As shown in Figure 4, the proportion who considered it would affect their health ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ seriously has remained stable, whilst the proportion who thought it ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ likely that someone close to them will be infected has decreased since early June.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Base (n=500)
To understand the potential impact on non-COVID related health issues, respondents were asked if they would avoid going to a hospital or GP practice if they had a medical concern unrelated to Coronavirus. As shown in Figure 5, just under a third agreed that they would avoid going to a hospital or GP practice. This has remained stable since the beginning of June.
Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1003-1048)
Contact
Email: covid-19.behaviours@gov.scot
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