The topline results examine two surveys administered by Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC to a national sample of ~800 American adults at two critical points in time. The first survey was conducted of 810 Americans in the two weeks leading up to Election Day 2020 (October 21 to November 1, 2020), and the second survey of 814 Americans was administered in the two weeks following the declaration of Joe Biden as president-elect by the National Election Pool (December 1 to 14, 2020). The methodology and composition of the samples of both surveys can be found appended to the topline.

This project gave Heldrich Center researchers the unique opportunity to not only document opinions about the economy and the pandemic and make comparisons both pre- and post-election, but also contrast these opinions to Heldrich Center trend data collected following the Great Recession for a national sample and by subgroups of the American population, including age and gender. Both surveys ask Americans to assess various policy options to aid in the pandemic response and recovery, including measuring support for policies that President Biden campaigned on, as well as assessing how the public thinks hard work plays a role in workers succeeding in the current economy. The study design will also help Heldrich Center researchers explore important topics in survey methodology, including questionnaire design, sampling, and likely voter calculations, to inform better design of future public opinion studies.