Confidence in State & Fed Response Improves
As COVID restrictions are lifted and vaccines become more available, Americans’ approval of the White House and State Governments improves
a COVID-19 Data Project feature
Americans’ average view of both their state government and the White House’s pandemic response increased for the first time since last Fall. Americans gave the White House response an average score of 52.5 after a significant dip in January and February. The state government average score (46.7) increase fell 6.7 points over the last month.
Looking back at the entire year, we have seen some steady rises and falls in the average job approval, with Americans often giving their state government an average 12.7 points higher approval than the White House.
However, that margin has drastically narrowed in the last several months. A part of that could be a change in Administration, but it likely has more to do with access to vaccines and the lifting of some restrictions.
Regionally, Job Approval of the White House COVID Response Increased Dramatically, But …
When we look at the average job approval of the White House’s handling of the pandemic over the past year, we see that early on, the average approval was erratic and there wasn’t a clear pattern. As we headed into the Summer, however, we found a decline across all four regions before a strong increase in the Fall, most notable in the southern and northern regions.
More recently, after a dip among all four regions, we see a drastic increase in three of the regions, with the one exception among Americans living in the Midwest.
State Governments’ Job Approval Improved Among Each Region in the U.S.
Looking at the average job approval of state governments by region, more recently we don’t see that break with the Midwest when it comes to their view of the White House’s response. Americans living in the western region had a lower increase than the other four regions, but as we can see, the western region has typically given their state government a lower rating.
Overall, the Americans living in the northeast region have given their state governments higher average job approval than the other regions. The southern region gave the lowest marks early during COVID lockdowns and restrictions. However, the average job approval among southern state governments improved in the Fall when the restrictions in the south were lifted.
Millennials Gave Their Highest Average Score Ever to the White House Response
When we look at the average job approval handling of the COVID pandemic, one of the biggest shifts over the past year is among those Americans under the age of 45. While younger Americans' average approval often would increase along with the other age groups, it typically was the lowest of our three age groups.
However, this past month we saw a significant spike to an all-time high of 50.8. This spike is likely attributed to vaccines becoming more readily available and the passage of the COVID relief package … not a change in Administration.
After an Increase in Early December, State Government Response by Age Has Decreased
When we look at the average job approval of state governments by age group, we see a similar increase for all groups over the last month, a potential change in trajectory as we can see approval of the past year has been slowly declining overall. At the beginning of the pandemic, older and middle-aged Americans were more supportive of the efforts of their state governments.
However, as the year continued, the differences among the age groups became more aligned. Today, we see younger Americans' views increasing as restrictions continue to be lifted.