The following is from Gallup News.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- 64% think the pandemic is over in the U.S., up 15 points since February
- 18% are worried about getting Covid-19, lowest since June 2021
- Still fewer than half (43%) say lives back to pre-pandemic normal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ assessments of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. are markedly improved, as a record-high 64% now say it is over, and fewer than two in 10 express worry about contracting the disease.
Despite these positive indicators, less than half of U.S. adults, 43%, say their lives have returned to their pre-pandemic normal, while 56% report that they have not.
This majority includes 41% who say normalcy will never return and 15% who expect that it eventually will.
These findings are from a May 30-June 6 update to Gallup’s probability-based Covid-19 web panel poll.
For First Time, Majority of Americans and Democrats Think Pandemic is Over
Gallup has asked Americans whether they think the Covid-19 pandemic is over since June 2021, and until now, found less than half saying it was.
This includes a 49% reading in February. Since then, the percentage of Americans who think the pandemic is over has jumped 15 percentage points to 64%, while 36% say it has not ended yet.
Although Americans across party lines increasingly believe the pandemic is over, Democrats’ views have changed the most since February.
For the first time in Gallup’s trend, a majority of Democrats, 51%, now say the pandemic has ended, marking a 23-point increase since earlier this year.
At the same time, Republicans’ (84%) and independents’ (65%) views of the pandemic’s demise have grown by nine and 10 points, respectively.
These changes may be due, at least in part, to a series of official announcements about the pandemic nationally and globally.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a congressional resolution to end the nation’s state of emergency, and in May, both the U.S. and global declarations of a public health emergency ended.
Many Americans Still Haven’t Returned to Pre-Pandemic Normalcy
Although most Americans think the pandemic is over and a near-record low worry about contracting Covid-19, there is less consensus about whether their lives are back to the normal that existed before the pandemic.
Gallup has tracked Americans’ reports of a return to normalcy since June 2021.
A new high of 43% today, up from 34% in February, say their normal lives have resumed.
Still, about as many, 41%, do not expect their lives to ever go back to pre-pandemic normalcy.
The remaining 15% say their lives are not yet back to normal but will eventually be. (Continued…)
Link to article and complete polling results here.
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