Do you wonder how COVID-19 could have so completely disappeared from media coverage and public life so quickly and decisively?
After two years, public opinion has dramatically reversed (https://brownstone.org/articles/how-public-opinion-ended-covid-and-started-the-next-thing/). As a result, the people who gave us these policies that have unleashed every kind of economic, cultural, and social malady now want everyone to forget it ever happened.
Poll results from Americans for Prosperity and YouGov provide insight into what changed. The mood of the public either drove the change or reflected the change in regime priorities, take your pick. Regardless, the shift is dramatic.
To quote the results:
● 43% of Americans feel their protest rights are less secure; only 9% say they’re more secure.
● 42% of Americans feel their ability to voice their opinion has diminished since the start of the pandemic; only 12% say they’re ability to voice their opinion has become more secure.
● More than one in three Americans feel their religious liberties are less secure; only 10% feel they’re more secure.
● 49% of people said their trust in the CDC has gone way down or slightly down since the start of the pandemic.
● 41% of Americans said their trust in the Congress is “way down,” and another 20% said that their trust in Congress has gone slightly down, for a total of 61% of Americans who indicated they have lost trust in the US Congress since the beginning of the pandemic.
● 59% of Americans said public officials did a somewhat or very poor job of being transparent with the public about the information being used and the reasoning. regarding any restrictions or requirements, While 28% said government officials did a somewhat or very good job, and 13% were unsure.
● Nearly six in ten Americans (58%) believe public officials did a poor job of seeking input from the public; only 22% said they did a somewhat or very good job and another 20% were not sure.
● 55% of Americans think officials have done a poor job reassessing any restrictions or requirements; 29% believe they did a good job.
● 52% of people said officials did a poor job keeping any restrictions or requirements as focused and narrow as possible, with 27% disagreeing and saying government officials did a good job.
● 52% of Americans also say officials did a poor job allowing sensible modifications to rules as opposed to having blanket bans on activities, while 30% of Americans think they did a good job.
● 54% of people said officials have done a somewhat or very poor job applying any restrictions or requirements equally to all people, while 31% of Americans think government officials did a good job with respect to applying COVID restrictions equally to all people.
These results point to one conclusion: between one-half and two-thirds of the public believe that the pandemic response was an enormous flop, and that their own liberties are far less secure now than they were before. Further, none of it worked to achieve that goal.
That is a devastating indictment on the biggest expansion of government power and control in our lifetimes, one that happened not only in the US but almost everywhere in the world.
