Concern about government tops coronavirus for first time since July: Gallup

Nearly 30 percent of Americans surveyed in a new poll name their governmental leaders as their top concern, up from 20 percent in December and surpassing the coronavirus.

Twenty-nine percent of Americans cite government leaders in the Gallup survey released early Monday, while 12 percent named national friction. That percentage is also up 7 points from December, before the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

The coronavirus was named as the top concern by 22 percent of respondents in the new survey, down 11 points from December. Race-related issues were at 10 percent, statistically even with December.

The pandemic has been in the top spot in the monthly survey since July, with Gallup attributing the decline to the approval of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines. Overall, Democrats’ concerns about the virus abated more in the past month, with an 18-point decline, than those of independents, which dropped 10 points, and Republicans, which dropped 6 points. Democrats remain more concerned about the virus overall, with 32 percent calling it their top concern compared to 18 percent of independents and 14 percent of Republicans.

The last time government was named as the top concern was last February, the month the GOP-controlled Senate acquitted then-President Trump in his first impeachment trial.

The percentage calling national discord the top problem in the Gallup poll is the highest since 1939, when it began polling respondents on the question. The highest it had been before was 10 percent in February 2017, the month after Trump’s inauguration, and 11 percent that October after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Pollsters surveyed 1,023 American adults Jan. 4-15. The survey had a 4 percentage point margin of error.