Public officials’ Covid ratings down; dip in support for mandates
A majority of Americans say they feel “worn out” by how Covid has impacted their daily lives, and nearly half feel “angry” about it. And the public’s exasperation may also be having an impact on how they view their political leaders’ handling of the pandemic, according to the latest Monmouth (“Mon‐muth”) University Poll. Support for face mask and workplace vaccine mandates has also declined since the fall when the delta variant started to dominate.
Six in ten Americans feel worn out by pandemic-related changes they have had to make to their daily lives over the past 20 months. This includes 36% who feel worn out a lot and 24% who feel worn out a little. The poll also finds that nearly half of the public feels angry about how Covid has impacted their daily lives – 24% a lot and 21% a little. Republicans (64%) are no more likely than Democrats (63%) to say they feel at least a little worn out by pandemic-related changes to their lives, but they are much more likely to report feeling angry (63% and 34%, respectively).
Looking at both feelings simultaneously, just over one-third (36%) of the country reports being both worn out and angry. Another 25% feels worn out but not angry and 9% feels angry but not worn out, while 30% say they don’t feel either way about Covid-driven changes to their daily lives. Other than partisan-related variations in these results, there are few significant demographic differences in reports of being either worn out or angry due to the pandemic. However, adults under 55 years old (74%) are somewhat more likely than those aged 55 and older (63%) to say that they feel either or both of these negative emotions.
