Attention on presidential election wanes amid coronavirus pandemic: Gallup

Americans’ attention to the 2020 presidential campaign has waned as the coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed the news cycle and former Vice President Joe Biden has all but secured the Democratic nomination, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday. 

A majority of U.S. adults — 59 percent — said they’ve given “quite a lot” of thought to the November election, down from 67 percent in mid-February.

At least 39 percent said they’ve given “only a little” to “no” thought to the match-up between Biden and President Trump.

The 2020 campaign is essentially now getting the same attention from Americans as it was in August through mid-January, before the start of the presidential primaries, when 60 percent of respondents gave it quite a lot of thought, according to the poll.

By comparison, 75 percent of Americans said they were paying attention to presidential races in both May 2016 and April 2008 ahead of elections those years. 

The amount of attention is now roughly split between political parties, with 63 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans giving the 2020 race quite a lot of thought.

Enthusiasm about voting has declined since January among members of both parties — down 6 points among Republicans, to 62 percent, and down 7 points among Democrats, to 54 percent.

The Gallup poll surveyed a random sample of 1,016 adults by telephone from April 14 to 28. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.