As the coronavirus pandemic enters its second year having killed almost 450,000 Americans, one-fourth of adults surveyed nationwide said they will not get a vaccine, according to a poll released Wednesday.
In the Monmouth University Poll, just half of respondents, 50%, said they wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible, while 6% already have been vaccinated against the virus. Another 19% said they would let others go ahead of them.
But 24% said they wouldn’t get a shot under any circumstances. That included 42% of self-identified Republicans, 10% of Democrats and 25% of independents.
“Reluctance to get the vaccine is driven more by partisanship than any single demographic factor,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “It says a lot about the depth of our partisan divide that it could impact public health like this.”
Even with vaccines being rolled out in record time, just 29% said they thought the U.S. would return to normal this summer, with another 39% saying it would take until the end of the year. Almost one-fourth, 24%, said it would take even longer than that while 6% said the county would not return to normal.
President Joe Biden received high marks for his handling of the coronavirus so far, with 58% saying he has done a good job and 23% saying he has done a bad job.
And 71% said they were confident Biden could put the country on the road to recovery — including 36% of Republicans — with 28% saying they had little or no confidence in new president. Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, including $1,400 direct payments for most Americans.
“A third of Republicans expressing confidence in Biden does not sound like much, but given the current environment it might just qualify as overwhelming bipartisanship,” Murray said.
As they have throughout the pandemic, state governors received high marks for their handling of the pandemic, with 57% saying they have done a good job and 38% said a bad job.
The poll of 809 U.S. adults was conducted Jan. 21-24 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.
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