Research

Almost 1 in 5 Mass Residents Have Had Close Friends or Family Members Die of COVID, According to UMass Amherst / WCVB Poll

Sixty percent of Bay State residents report they or one of their close friends or family members have tested positive for coronavirus
Image
umass poll wordmark

AMHERST, Mass. – The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of close friends or family members of nearly 1 in 5 Massachusetts residents, and among people of color the percentage rises to over one-quarter, according to a new University of Massachusetts Amherst / WCVB poll released today.

“A year into the pandemic, the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the personal and professional lives of the residents of the Bay State,” says Tatishe Nteta, associate professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll.

Of the 800 Massachusetts residents in the poll’s sample, 18% say they have lost loved ones to coronavirus, and nearly twice as many people of color report having had close friends or family die of the virus (26%) compared to white respondents (15%). Overall, 60% of the poll’s respondents report that they or their close friends or family members have tested positive for COVID, which is up from 32% in an October UMass Amherst Poll. The number of respondents who say they personally have tested positive for COVID more than doubled from the October poll, from 2% to 5%.

“This year has been particularly hard on people of color in the state,” Nteta says. “Not only are people of color more likely to contract and die from the virus, they report that they are more likely to experience job losses, a reduction in work hours and are more fearful of a potential job loss when compared to whites.”

“There’s also a generation gap with COVID,” says Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and associate director of the poll. “Young people are at higher risk for getting COVID and losing their jobs. Only about 1 in 20 Massachusetts voters report that they have tested positive for COVID, but that number doubles for young people to 1 in 10. Also, more than a quarter of young people say they have had recent job loss compared to 1 in 6 of people over 30.”

In spite of the pain the pandemic has caused Bay State residents, it appears there is growing optimism among those surveyed in the new poll. Fewer people report being worried that they will contract the virus than in October’s poll (52%, down from 62%), that they are primarily working at home (26%, down from 33%) and that they fear losing their job due to the pandemic (14%, down from 18%).

Government Handling of the Pandemic

That optimism may be rooted in support for actions by the federal government. Whereas only 30% of respondents in October’s poll thought then-President Trump was handling the outbreak well, 64% currently believe President Joe Biden is handling the outbreak well. The U.S. Congress saw moderate improvement in how Massachusetts residents view its response, up to 31% positive from 26% in October.

While the federal government’s response to the pandemic receives higher grades in today’s poll, support for the response of state and local governments has noticeably slipped. Here in the Commonwealth, Gov. Charlie Baker’s support has significantly declined.

“The controversy surrounding the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines coupled with steep increases in the number of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the winter did damage to the governor’s once sterling reputation as assessments of his handling of the pandemic dipped from close to 80% approval in October to 60% in our new poll,” Nteta says.

Those saying that Baker has done “very well” dropped by more than half, from 36% to just 15%. Meanwhile, those saying he has not handled the outbreak well at all increased from 9% to 16%.

The state Legislature has likewise seen support for its performance drop, from 75% in October to 52% today, and support for local governments has also decreased from 83% to 69%.

One year in, political ideology is correlated with how a significant portion of the poll’s respondents confront the pandemic. Among Republicans, even though 22% having lost a loved one to the pandemic and 55% say a loved one has tested positive for the virus, only 28% continue to worry about contracting COVID. Among Democrats, 66% still worry about contracting the virus, as do 40% of independents.

“Almost everything about COVID is partisan,” says La Raja. “How we rate our leadership in handling it, how we follow protocols, whether we want schools to open and our fears and hopes. Massachusetts Republicans are less likely to wear masks, social distance and avoid groups. For example, 42% of Republicans said they wear a face mask when leaving the home compared to 61% of Democrats, a gap of 19 percentage points.”

Schooling During the Pandemic

The poll also asked residents their views of the schooling their children are receiving during the pandemic. Most report their children have a hybrid schedule of in-person and online learning, followed by fully remote schooling. Most respondents are satisfied overall with their children’s schooling regardless of the method and their children’s ages. Sixty percent of parents of elementary schoolchildren are satisfied with the quality of their children’s education, as are 65% of parents of middle-schoolers and 68% of high schoolers. While positive sentiment is highest among those whose children receive in-person schooling full time, all methods of schooling receive overall positive grades.

“At the elementary level, 60% of all parents are satisfied with their student’s schooling, compared to 91% whose kids are attending in-person, full time. That’s a 31-point difference,” La Raja says. “The majority of parents recognize the challenges facing schools, but as the poll shows, a majority of parents are in favor of a return to in-person learning.”

Opinions of all of the poll’s respondents are split regarding what should happen now regarding schooling, however, with nearly equal numbers saying K-12 schools should remain partially or fully remote for the time being (43%) as those saying that in-person schooling is needed now (41%).

“On the issue of who should make the decision to return public schools to full time in-person learning,” Nteta says, “the state’s citizens are following the science, with 33% pointing to health officials as the institution that should be the most responsible for deciding when schools should return to in-person learning.”

Methodology

This University of Massachusetts Amherst / WCVB Poll of 800 residents of Massachusetts was conducted March 5-9 by YouGov. YouGov interviewed 846 respondents who were then matched down to a sample of 800 to produce the final dataset. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race and education. The frame was constructed by stratified sampling from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) subset to Massachusetts residents one-year sample with selection within strata by weighted sampling with replacements, using the person weights on the public use file. The matched cases were weighted to the sampling frame using propensity scores. The matched cases and the frame were combined and a logistic regression was estimated for inclusion in the frame. The propensity score function included age, gender, race/ethnicity and years of education. The propensity scores were grouped into deciles of the estimated propensity score in the frame and post-stratified according to these deciles.

The weights were then post-stratified on 2016 Presidential vote choice, 2020 Presidential vote choice and a four-way stratification of gender, age (4-categories), race (4-categories), and education (4-categories), to produce the final weight.

The margin of error within this poll is 4.6%.

Topline results and crosstabs for the poll can be found at www.umass.edu/poll