LAST UPDATE: MARCH 3, 2021
The Return to Normal: Views on the Pandemic
This tracker is part of a series from Morning Consult gauging when consumers will return to normal activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more and sign-up for alerts.
Morning Consult is closely tracking the public’s attitudes on vaccines, social distancing, comfort, political and institutional leadership in handling the coronavirus, the economic cost and more.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
3 in 10 Adults Say Coronavirus Is a Severe Health Risk Locally: The share of adults who think COVID-19 presents a severe health risk in their community continued to fall, reaching 30 percent, the lowest point since mid-October. Perception of the local COVID-19 risk has been declining among both Democrats and Republicans, though Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say COVID-19 is a local risk, 40 percent to 20 percent.
3 in 5 Black Adults Say They’d Get Vaccinated: The share of Black adults who said they’d get a COVID-19 vaccine jumped 13 percentage points in a week to reach 60 percent, the highest level since April 2020 and similar to the share among adults overall (62 percent) and white adults (63 percent). Vaccine willingness among Black adults has see-sawed for months, but generally remained lower than the general population; the margin of error for the sample of Black adults is 6 points.
Republicans Growing More Wary of Social Distancing: For the first time in Morning Consult/Politico tracking, fewer than half of GOP voters (47 percent) agree that “Americans should continue to social distance for as long as is needed to curb the spread of coronavirus even if it means continued damage to the economy.” The share of Republicans who agree with that statement fell 7 percentage points over the past week.
Nearly Half of the Public Is Comfortable Resuming Regular Routine: Forty-seven percent of U.S. adults said they are very or somewhat comfortable returning to their normal routine, the highest share since Morning Consult began tracking the question in late May and an increase of 3 percentage points from last week. Republicans also set a record high this week, with 59 percent now saying they’re comfortable resuming their regular routine.
New Generational Highs in Returning to Normal Routine: Record shares of Millennials and Gen Xers now say they’re comfortable resuming their regular routine, at 56 percent and 51 percent, respectively. The previous high for Millennials was 51 percent , set last week, and Gen Xers hit their record mark two weeks ago at 47 percent.
Tracking the Return to Normal
When will things return to normal and what will our new normal look like? It’s a question that business, economic and government leaders are grappling with as more and more Americans receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
To help answer this complicated question, Morning Consult is tracking how consumer attitudes are shifting across a wide range of categories, from travel to entertainment to dining, to gain greater insight into not only when consumers will be ready to return to their normal activities, but how their habits will be forever changed. We’ll be updating these pages every week with new data and analyses. Sign-up for alerts below.