<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1664999274517,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1664999274517,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_64999269", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1111397"} }); ","_id":"00000183-a988-d670-a1b3-a9f9bf730000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedPeople have mixed views on how public health officials handled the nation’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak but tend to agree across party lines that the United States was “unprepared” for a pandemic.
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center from Sept. 13-18 with 10,588 surveyed adults found respondents were split almost evenly on whether they thought the nation’s preparation for outbreaks such as COVID-19 was effective enough.
Forty-nine percent of respondents thought that public health officials, such as those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were unprepared for the outbreak, compared to 51% of people who believe the CDC did an “excellent or good job communicating with the public” about COVID-19.
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Looking across party lines, 47% of Republicans and 46% of Democrats say U.S. public health officials were unprepared to handle the pandemic.
Similarly, 45% of respondents believed officials’ response to COVID-19 was negatively affected by interference from elected officials, and 36% believed personal views got in the way.
A majority of respondents, 57%, stated that false and misleading information contributed to many of the problems the United States faced amid the outbreak, with 54% also attributing polarized disagreement between Democrats and Republicans to those problems.
Democrats and Republicans agreed almost evenly that false information caused problems: 57% of Republicans/leaning Republican and 58% of Democrats/leaning Democrat. When asked if disagreement between their two parties hindered efforts to respond adequately to the pandemic, 61% of Democrats said yes, compared to 48% of Republicans.
Republicans (53%) were significantly more likely than Democrats (12%) to say that government officials overreacting to the outbreak caused myriad problems.
Around 41% of respondents believe President Joe Biden is doing an excellent or good job responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Biden went on 60 Minutes in September and stated that the pandemic was “over,” causing backlash and headaches for the federal government. Several GOP-led states sued the Biden administration over the president’s student loan forgiveness plan, stating that Biden cannot use the pandemic as a reason for the plan if he believes it has ended.
