The COVID-19 crisis is affecting all types of organizations. Many, including some of our clients, are commissioning private polls to help predict the specific impact of the pandemic on their business. Fortunately, there are a number of well-regarded research and polling organizations conducting polls that are publicly released. Unfortunately, there are also disreputable polls out there and can be challenging to sort out the good from the bad.

We’ve been closely watching the COVID-19 polls and have found some that stand out from the rest. We felt it would be a good idea to list them here to save you some time as you look for polling information.

• First, although it is not a poll, a useful site to look at is the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. This site contains the results of a model projecting numbers of deaths from COVID-19, beds needed versus hospital capacity, etc. This is one of the most credible models out there, and the one that seems to be cited the most in the media and by the federal government.
• Johns Hopkins University maintains a coronavirus tracking center which is the definitive place to go to track cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19. 

Below is a list of opinion polls we’ve found most interesting. There are a lot of polls out there. The ones listed below are from trusted organizations and would be a good place to start your search. There are many polls available that concentrate on things like the public’s opinion of the government’s handling of the crisis. The polls below go a bit deeper and are far more interesting in our view. There are likely other good polls out there, but these are the best ones we have found thus far.

• The Harris Poll COVID-19 tracker.  This is perhaps the most comprehensive COVID-19 polling we have discovered, and it tracks back to early March. If you have time for just one polling site this is probably the one to check out.
• Pew. Pew is a widely-respected organization that has conducted many polls on COVID-19 topics.
• The COVID Impact Survey. This is an independent, non-governmental survey being conducted by NORC along with some respected foundations. 
• Dynata. Dynata has a tracking poll going on COVID-19 that is interesting because it spans multiple countries. Dynata is also doing a “symptom map” based on their polling worldwide. This is interesting as it shows how symptoms are trending around the world, in the US by state, and even in NYC by neighborhood. However, we feel that a Google Trends search would provide better data that survey research on symptoms. 
• IPSOS.  IPSOS is also conducting worldwide polls. 
• Simpson Scarborough. This poll is specific to higher education and the implications of COVID-19 on college students. If you work in higher education or have a college-aged child, you are likely to find this one interesting.
• University of Massachusetts Amherst. This one is different and interesting. It shows the results of an ongoing survey of infectious disease experts, containing their predictions for the impacts of the disease.  It is updated weekly.  FiveThirtyEight is summarizing this work and it is probably easiest to read their summaries than to go to the original source. I must say, though, I have been watching this poll carefully, and the experts haven’t been all that accurate in their predictions, missing on the high side consistently.

There are undoubtedly many more good polls out there. Those mentioned above are from non-partisan, trusted organizations.