New Gallup Poll: Majority Say Pandemic Is Worsening

Gallup reports:

With the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 infecting hundreds of thousands of Americans daily, optimism about the trajectory of the pandemic in the U.S. has fallen sharply, and worry about contracting the virus has risen to its highest level in a year. The latest update to Gallup’s COVID-19 data, from a survey conducted Jan. 3-14, finds U.S. adults’ social distancing behaviors have picked up, and the use of masks in public remains high.

By October, with infections from the delta variant waning, a slim 51% majority once again thought the situation was improving. However, as news of the omicron strain’s emergence in Africa began to circulate in November, Americans became more concerned, and the percentage saying the situation was improving fell 20 percentage points. The latest reading is down an additional 11 points. Along with the 20% of U.S. adults who currently say the pandemic is improving, 22% think it is staying the same and 58% believe it is worsening.

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“The hopefulness Americans felt last spring after the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines was first dashed over the summer by the delta variant, then recovered briefly as cases subsided, and is now being crushed by omicron.” https://t.co/qBNJuJwL2D

— John Gramlich (@johngramlich) January 20, 2022