LAST UPDATE: FEB. 24, 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
One Month Into His Term, Biden Has Backing of 3 in 5 Voters for Handling COVID-19: After his first full month in office, President Joe Biden has the support of 60 percent of registered voters for his handling of the coronavirus compared with 33 percent opposed, for a net approval of plus-27. Biden saw a big jump in net approval last week from independents, rising to plus-21 (54 percent support vs. 33 percent opposed) from plus-8.
Over 3 in 5 Adults Say They’d Get Vaccinated: The share of adults who said they’d get a COVID-19 vaccine reached 62 percent, the highest level recorded since mid-June. Yet a 23 percentage-point gap remains between the share of Democrats (77 percent) and Republicans (54 percent) who said they’d get vaccinated.
New High for Democrats’ Comfort for Return to Normal Routine: Thirty-seven percent of Democrats now say they would be very or somewhat comfortable returning to their regular routine, the highest share on record since Morning Consult began tracking the question in late May and a 6-point jump from last week. Overall, 44 percent of adults say they would be comfortable returning to their normal routine, which ties the previous record set in mid-June, and 56 percent of Republicans said the same, on par with the GOP share recorded over the past month.
Youngest Adults Grow Increasingly Comfortable With Return to Regular Routine: Millennials set a record high for saying they would be very or somewhat comfortable resuming their normal routine at 51 percent, edging out their previous top mark of 50 percent set in early January. Gen Z adults, meanwhile, tied a record high at 58 percent, a mark previously reached in early November and 15 points higher than the share who said the same last week.
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.