The daily counts of new cases of monkeypox in the U.S. have risen from a handful each day in late May to hundreds in recent days. Findings from the latest Economist/YouGov poll indicate that this rise has corresponded with slight increases in the shares of Americans who are concerned about a monkeypox epidemic in the U.S. and are personally worried about experiencing the disease, though the share who are following news about it has barely budged.
Nearly half (46%) of Americans say they are following news about monkeypox somewhat or very closely, compared to 44% on the May 28-31 poll.
The share of Americans who are somewhat or very concerned about a monkeypox epidemic in the U.S. has risen to 45% from 34% since late May; the share who are very concerned is up to 13% from 7%.
The share of Americans who are somewhat or very worried about experiencing monkeypox is 31%, up from 25% in late May; 11% are very worried, up from 7%.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be following news about monkeypox, to be concerned about an epidemic, and to be worried about experiencing it themselves. So, too, are Americans who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual — compared to straight Americans.
— Taylor Orth contributed to this article.
This poll was conducted on July 23 - 26, 2022 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens. Explore more on the methodology and data for this Economist/YouGov poll.
