Highly educated voters far more satisfied with government COVID response: survey

Two-thirds of Democrats do not believe government overreacted to pandemic, the opposite of Republicans. Majority believes "the worst is behind us," but that's down from two years ago.
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By Greg Piper

Americans are divided on federal and state governments' response to COVID-19 not only by party and sex but also education level, with postgraduate degree holders far more pleased with the response than those with bachelor's degrees or lower, according to a new Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 registered voters conducted April 30 and May 1.

Half of postgrads say the government did a "good or excellent" job responding to the pandemic, compared to 28% with bachelor's degrees and 34% with no degrees. Only 19% of postgrads thought it was poor, compared to 44% of bachelor's holders and 37% without a degree.

The most educated also strongly believe "the worst is behind us" on COVID (69%), compared to small majorities for bachelor's holders (51%) and non-holders (54%).

Only a third of voters overall say state and federal governments did a good or excellent job, outnumbered by those who say it was poor (36%), though more disagree (47%) than agree (42%) that "the federal government overreacted in ways that did more harm than good."

A plurality of men (48%) believe the government overreacted while an outright majority of women (53%) believe it did not.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) compare getting COVID at this point to the flu or a "bad cold" and a majority (56%) say the worst of the pandemic has passed, down from 62% who said that in May 2023.

Around a quarter of voters remain outliers in their belief that the worst is ahead (29%), COVID is worse than the flu or a bad cold (25%) and military members who were discharged for refusal to take COVID vaccines should not be reinstated or receive lost wages (27%). A strong majority (63%) favors reinstatement and receiving lost wages.

The closest divide on whether the worst is behind us (45%) or not (41%) is voters under 35.

More than twice as many Republicans (52%) as Democrats (21%) believe the government did a poor job with COVID, and the GOP also heavily favors the worst-is-behind-us view (67%) while Democrats only agree by a plurality (47%).

The parties are mirror images on whether the government overreacted to COVID: two-thirds of Republicans say yes, two-thirds of Democrats say no.