It's not difficult to find individuals who haven't returned to pre-COVID normal roaming in our midst. People still wear face masks on planes and public transit — and sometimes while driving alone in their cars. The ultra-boosted crowd still posts selfies while getting their umpteenth jab. Others still insist that it's "unsafe" to attend large events.
These people, while often the butt of jokes, can seem like the small minority of Americans — especially in conservative circles — now three years since the pandemic kicked off. But, according to new survey data from Gallup, they might make up a majority of Democrats.
Gallup's survey found that, overall, one-third of Americans said their lives are "completely back to normal" while 20 percent said things aren't yet normal but will be and 47 percent said things are "not back to normal" and "will not return" to normal.
Gallup emphasized in its report that, despite waning pandemic mandates and restrictions, those "who don't foresee a return to normalcy may be getting used to a 'new normal' that, for some, means occasional mask use, regular COVID-19 vaccines and avoidance of some situations that may put them at greater risk of infection, particularly at times when COVID-19 infections are spiking." No thanks?
The pollster also noted that the "issue remains politically charged, with Republicans more likely to report a return to normal, while Democrats are more likely to say their lives will never be the same again."
Broken down by party affiliation, a whopping 53 percent of Democrats say life is "not back to normal" and never will be. Forty-nine percent of independents say the same, but just 33 percent of Republicans think the normalcy ship has sailed.
On the flip-side, half of Republicans say their life is "completely back to normal." One-third of independents agree, but just 24 percent of Democrats say things have returned to pre-pandemic normal.
Three years into the pandemic, just one-third of Americans say their lives are completely back to normal, while 47% say their lives will never return to pre-pandemic normalcy. https://t.co/aOGsKDgzdA
— GallupNews (@GallupNews) March 15, 2023
The number of Democrats who still say things are not back to normal and never will be is also something of an indictment of President Biden's failure to lead, as he promised, America out of the pandemic. His declaration of "independence" from COVID in July 2021 clearly didn't convince his party's voters, nor did his September 2022 statement that "the pandemic is over."
What's more, Biden's broken promises — such as saying COVID vaccines would never be mandated before forcing a mandate that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court — and missed goals haven't given Americans of any political stripes any faith that Biden administration would be the thing to get Americans' lives back to normal.