Why normality is still off the table

By Ian Silvera, Account Director

Easing lockdowns haven’t eased concerns about Covid-19 or the economy as polls show growing scepticism about the future. Just one in three Americans, for instance, approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling his country’s response. 

Research from Ipsos MORI for ABC News, of more than 700 respondents between 8 and 9 July, found that 67% of those polled disagreed with the Republican’s strategy to fight the virus outbreak, up from 58% in mid-June. 

The survey, which has a margin of error of 4.1%, also showed that almost six in ten (59%) respondents thought the economy was being opened too quickly. 

These results and actions, of course, come amid a White House election race, with Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden ahead by 8.8% on average. Trump is also currently doing badly in the favourability ratings, with an average net satisfaction score of -15.9%. 

The commentariat has Biden in the White House after the November vote. But a word of caution on that: there’s still months to go in the campaign, you have to win in the electoral college (not the popular vote) to gain or retain the presidency and the polls are merely a snapshot of past opinions. As they say at the horses, we’re not even at the final stretch yet. 

In the UK, meanwhile, the government has been – to varying degrees of success – urging the public to wear face masks and a new 1,600-person poll from YouGov for non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate found that nearly one in six Britons (16%) will refuse a novel coronavirus vaccine if and when one becomes available.  

Finally, Australians strongly support (85%) putting Victoria in quarantine after an outbreak of Covid-19 in Melbourne as pessimism grows over a potential second national wave of infections. The weekly tracker from Newgate Australia, of 1,200 respondents between 6 and 8 July, found 77% (up 5% in a week) of Australians are now concerned about the potential for a “second wave” of the virus. 17% indicated they have worn a face mask, up from 12% three weeks ago. 

To put all of those surveys into context. Half the year has gone, more than half a million people have died due to Covid-19 worldwide and a vaccine still is not in sight. Normality may be a 2021 thing from where we stand now.