More Canadians
Concerned About COVID-19
Half have seen change in the status of
their employment
Toronto, April 16th –
In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1335 Canadian
voters, more than eight in 10 (TOP2: 85%) say they're concerned about COVID-19,
with half (52%) saying they're very concerned.
This is up
considerably from the beginning of March, where just under two-thirds were
concerned (TOP2: 62%, March 6) and only a quarter (25%, March 6) said they were
very concerned.
About one-sixth
(BTM2: 15%) said they are not concerned, with about one in 20 saying they are
not concerned at all (6%).
The numbers of those
who are not concerned are down since the beginning of March, where four in 10
(BTM2: 38%, March 6) said they were not concerned, and one-sixth (16%) saying
they were not concerned at all.
Half said the pandemic has caused a
change in their employment status
Half (49%) said the
COVID-19 pandemic has caused a change in their employment status, while a
similar proportion (51%) said it had not.
Amongst those who
said they've seen a change in their employment status, one in 10 (11%) said
they lost their job permanently.
Four in 10 (40%) said
they lost their job temporarily.
One-fifth (18%) said
they had their hours reduced.
One in twenty (4%)
said they had their hours increased.
A quarter (27%) said
the change in their employment did not fall into one of these categories.
One in 20 has missed a mortgage payment
One in 20 homeowners
(6%) said that due in part, or in full, to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had
missed a mortgage payment recently, while a similar proportion preferred not to
say (5%).
Amongst those homeowners
that said they had already missed a mortgage payment, a high proportion
(caution small sample) (76%) said they will miss another mortgage payment
before the pandemic ends.
One-quarter (23%)
said they would not, and few (1%) preferred not to say.
Nine in 10 home
owners said they had not (89%) missed a mortgage payment, but of those who said
they had not yet missed a payment, about one in twenty (5%) said they think
they will miss their next mortgage payment, with a similar proportion
preferring not to say (5%).
Nine in 10 (90%) said
they wouldn't.
Almost half asked for mortgage
assistance but were denied
Homeowners were asked
if they received any mortgage assistance, such as payment deferral, or some
other kind of help from their financial institution but almost half (46%) said
they asked for assistance but were denied.
About one in 10 (8%)
said they received assistance.
Four in 10 (43%) said
they did not ask for assistance, and about one in 20 preferred not to say
whether they asked for assistance or not (4%).
When looking at the
overall proportions of this question, more than half of surveyed homeowners
requested assistance from their financial institution: the (8%) who received
assistance and the (46%) who asked for assistance but were denied.
One-sixth of renters missed a rent payment
Renters have been hit
harder by the pandemic than owners, with one-sixth (14%) percent saying they've
missed a rent payment recently due in part, or in full, to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Amongst those renters
that said they had already missed a rent payment, a high proportion (caution
small sample) (80%) said they will miss another rent payment before the
pandemic ends.
One in 10 (11%) said
they would not miss a rent payment, and a similar proportion (9%) preferred not
to say.
Eight in 10 (79%)
said they hadn't missed a rent payment recently, with about one in 20
preferring not to say (7%).
Amongst those who
said they hadn't missed a rent payment, about 1 in 10 (13%) said they think
they'll miss their next rent payment, while a similar proportion (8%) preferred
not to say.
About eight in 10
(79%) said they don't think they'll miss their next rent payment.
Half of renters asked for rent
assistance but were denied
Renters were asked if
they received any rent-assistance, such as payment deferral, or some other kind
of help from their landlord and half (53%) said they asked for assistance but
were denied.
One in 10 (10%) asked
for assistance and received it.
A third (32%) said
they did not ask for assistance, while one in 20 (5%) preferred not to say.
When looking at the
overall proportions of this question, two-thirds of renters requested
assistance from their landlord: the (10%) who received assistance and the (53%)
who asked for assistance but were denied.
“Concern about COVID-19 has increased
considerably since the beginning of March, rising correspondingly to the
escalating measures enacted to contain the spread of the virus," said
Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “High numbers of homeowners
and renters alike are asking for assistance, but many say they're being
denied."
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.
