AP-NORC poll: COVID Anxiety Up, Vaccine Requirements Favored

August 20, 2021by James Anderson and Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press
AP-NORC poll: COVID Anxiety Up, Vaccine Requirements Favored
People in favor of and against a mask mandate for Cobb County schools gather and protest ahead of the school board meeting Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Marietta, Ga. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

DENVER (AP) — Anxiety in the United States over COVID-19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation’s hospitals once again fill to capacity.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that majorities of American adults want vaccination mandates for those attending movies, sports, concerts and other crowded events; those traveling by airplane; and workers in hospitals, restaurants, stores and government offices.

The poll shows that 41% are “extremely” or “very” worried about themselves or their family becoming infected with the virus. That is up from 21% in June, and about the same as in January, during the country’s last major surge, when 43% were extremely or very worried.

“I wouldn’t have said this a couple of years ago, but I’m not as confident as I was in America’s ability to take care of itself,” said David Bowers, a 42-year-old business analyst in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria. 

Bowers, a Democrat, and his wife, a public school teacher, got vaccinated early. But they fret once again about their daughters, ages 7 and 9, attending school in a state whose Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed a law to block school districts from mandating masks, let alone vaccines. 

A brief summer respite from COVID-19 fatigue included a family trip to New York. “COVID was pretty much out of mind,” Bowers said. “Now it feels like we’re going backward.” 

Close to 6 in 10 Americans say they favor requiring people to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel on an airplane or attend crowded public events. Only about a quarter of Americans oppose such measures. 

Roughly 6 in 10 also support vaccine mandates for hospital or other health care workers, along with government employees, members of the military and workers who interact with the public, such as in restaurants and stores. Support is slightly lower for requiring vaccinations to go out to a bar or restaurant, though more are in favor than opposed, 51% to 28%. 

Nearly 200 million people, or just over 60% of the U.S. population, had received at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over half of the population was fully vaccinated.

Hospitals across the U.S. had more than 75,000 coronavirus patients as of last week, a dramatic increase from a few weeks ago but still well below the winter surge records. Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, Hawaii, Louisiana and Mississippi have set records for COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks, and the surge in the delta variant, combined with low vaccination rates, has produced a scramble to find beds for patients.

The poll suggests that despite increasing cases and greater concern about the virus, Americans have not stepped up their own precautionary behavior since June, though at least half still say they always or often wear a mask around other people, stay away from large groups and avoid nonessential travel.

Confidence in vaccines to withstand virus variants has not waned, either, as U.S. health officials this week announced plans to dispense booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection. The doses could begin next month. 

Carla Jones, 37, of Lafayette, Louisiana, is a paraplegic with immunity problems and uses a wheelchair after she was severely injured in a car accident. Because of her health, she has been told by her doctor she cannot get the vaccine. She gets anxious visiting the doctor or when her grandchildren visit. 

“I see someone next to me at the doctor’s without a mask, it makes my heart rapidly beat faster,” Jones said. 

Jones, a Democrat, strongly favors vaccination and mask mandates, and not just for herself. “For the good of all,” she said. “I don’t have the shot, but I definitely wouldn’t want to pass it on to anyone else.”

The poll shows that 55% support requiring Americans to wear masks around other people outside their homes, while 62% support mask mandates specifically for workers who interact with the public, such as at restaurants and stores. Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 39% of Republicans are in favor of mask mandates for public-facing workers. 

Robbie Allen, a 63-year-old retiree from Clifton, Texas, is fully vaccinated and will wear a mask when required by stores or other places. But the self-described independent who leans Republican insists it is a matter of personal choice, and he sees mandates as taking the joy out of life. 

“The COVID is not going away very quickly, but I don’t think people should live in fear,” said Allen, who motorcycled with his girlfriend to this month’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which attracted hundreds of thousands to the South Dakota city. “People are going to die, but if we all hunker down, life gets miserable.”

Partisan gaps are also wide on vaccination requirements. In Arizona, Bowers has already taken time off work to pick up his daughter from school after she developed a high fever. They spent hours last week looking for a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site that wasn’t overcrowded. She tested negative. But the worries persist.

“My thinking is, the people who don’t want mandates are the people who need to be regulated,” Bowers said. “There’s a slim majority in this country making the right decisions. If it wasn’t for a slim majority as a country, we’d be in trouble.”

—-

Fingerhut reported from Washington.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

A+
a-
  • Education
  • Opinion Polls
  • States
  • vaccine requirements
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Opinion Polls

    Trump Evokes More Anger and Fear From Democrats Than Biden Does From Republicans, AP-NORC Poll Shows

    ATLANTA (AP) — Many Americans are unenthusiastic about a November rematch of the 2020 presidential election. But presumptive GOP nominee... Read More

    ATLANTA (AP) — Many Americans are unenthusiastic about a November rematch of the 2020 presidential election. But presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump appears to stoke more anger and fear among Americans from his opposing party than President Joe Biden does from his. A new poll from The Associated... Read More

    Nearly Eight in 10 AAPI Adults in US Think Abortion Should Be Legal, AP-NORC Poll Finds

    WASHINGTON (AP) — With abortion rights poised to be one of the major issues in the 2024 election, a new poll shows that Asian... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — With abortion rights poised to be one of the major issues in the 2024 election, a new poll shows that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are highly supportive of legal abortion, even in situations where the pregnant person wants an abortion... Read More

    US Adults Fracture Along Party Lines in Support for Ukraine Military Funding, AP-NORC Poll Finds

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As Russia makes battlefield advances and Ukrainian soldiers run short on ammunition, U.S. adults have become fractured along party lines in their support for sending military aid to Kyiv, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Democrats are more likely... Read More

    February 12, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Survey Finds Public Broadly Supports Biden’s Wind Energy Goals

    WASHINGTON — A recent survey shows that large swaths of the public support President Joe Biden’s offshore wind and renewable... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A recent survey shows that large swaths of the public support President Joe Biden’s offshore wind and renewable agenda, but they nevertheless continue to knock him on job performance. The survey of 2,038 adults in U.S. coastal counties was conducted late last year by... Read More

    January 29, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Survey Finds More Than Half of US Homeowners Cite IRA for Energy Efficiency Upgrades

    SUWANEE, Ga. — More than half of U.S. homeowners cited tax credits or rebates stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act... Read More

    SUWANEE, Ga. — More than half of U.S. homeowners cited tax credits or rebates stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act as one of the primary reasons they would consider energy efficiency upgrades like the installation of a heat pump, a recent survey found. The survey was... Read More

    US Adults Across Racial Groups Agree Economy Is a Top Priority, AP-NORC and AAPI Polls Show

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024,... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views among racial groups diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults across racial backgrounds... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top