The nationwide surge in coronavirus infections is causing some Americans to take the risk of in-person gatherings more seriously. It also appears that political partisanship is declining as an influence.
Contributing to this is the increasing concern is the growing share of people who personally know someone who tested positive for coronavirus (72%) or died from it (26%). Both are the highest marks recorded during the pandemic.
The latest November 13-16 Axios-Ipsos poll found significant spikes in concern for in-person gatherings and public activities from their previous poll two weeks earlier. 71% said attending in-person gatherings of friends and family outside their household was a large or moderate risk, up from 63%. Republicans showed the largest increase, from 40% to 52%, whereas the increase was 83% to 87% for Democrats.
There was a 10-percentage-point drop over the two weeks of people who visited friends or relatives the previous week, down from 49% to 39%. That is the lowest percentage since mid-May.
Over two-thirds (68%) now consider dining in at a restaurant a large or moderate risk, up seven percentage points from late October. Again, Republicans showed the largest increase from 37% to 45%. Democrats increased from 82% to 87%.
Over three-quarters of people (76%) now say spending more time inside public places as the weather turns colder will be a large or moderate risk, up from 69% two weeks earlier.
As infections continue to increase, risk concern of catching the coronavirus is likely to grow and continue to further restrict participation in in-person gatherings and public activities.
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About Randy White
Randy White is CEO and co-founder of the White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group. The 31-year-old company, with offices in Kansas City, Missouri, has worked for over 600 clients in 37 countries throughout the world. Projects the company has designed and produced have won seventeen 1st place awards. Randy is considered to be one of the world's foremost authorities on feasibility, brand development, design and production of leisure experience destinations including entertainment, eatertainment, edutainment, agritainment/agritourism, play and leisure facilities.
Randy was featured on the Food Network's Unwrapped television show as an eatertainment expert, quoted as an entertainment/edutainment center expert in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times and Time magazine and received recognition for family-friendly designs by Pizza Today magazine. One of the company's projects was featured as an example of an edutainment project in the book The Experience Economy. Numerous national newspapers have interviewed him as an expert on shopping center and mall entertainment and retail-tainment.
Randy is a graduate of New York University. Prior to repositioning the company in 1989 to work exclusively in the leisure and learning industry, White Hutchinson was active in the retail/commercial real estate industry as a real estate consultancy specializing in workouts/turnarounds of commercial projects. In the late 1960s to early 1980s, Randy managed a diversified real estate development company that developed, owned and managed over 2.0 million square feet of shopping centers and mixed-use projects and 2,000 acres of residential subdivisions. Randy has held the designations of CSM (Certified Shopping Center Manager) and Certified Retail Property Executive (CRX) from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
He has authored over 150 articles that have been published in over 40 leading entertainment/leisure and early childhood education industry magazines and journals and has been a featured speaker and keynoter at over 40 different conventions and trade groups.
Randy is the editor of his company's Leisure eNewsletter, has a blog and posts on Twitter and Linkedin.
