Another week, weekly Covid attitudes memo - no 44 (!) - from @jake_puddle and myself
* Public prefer certainty/caution in lockdown exit plan
* Vaccine success is improving perceptions of government
* Health/Economy of equal concern as cases dip
On balance, people would prefer to be told about emerging lockdown exit plans once they are certain/decided.
Keeping social distancing measures until the Autumn (mask-wearing and 2 metre rule) is very broadly supported as a sensible part of moves to relax restrictions. Three-quarters of people would favour this. 1/5 are opposed to this. 1/10 are strongly opposed. yougov.co.uk/topics/health/…
Over 3/10 people have had one dose of vaccine, as the rollout continues.
This modest 2021 recovery of approval of government handling of Covid, taking it quite close to net zero. This is ComResSavanta tracking across the pandemic savanta.com/coronavirus-da…
Confidence in the vaccine rollout at home may contribute to UK respondents having the strongest support (69%) and lowest opposition (19%) to passing on surplus vaccine doses to other countries.
The UK public would prioritise poorer countries in thinking about where any extra doses should go - that is preferred as a criteria to Covid cases, frequency of contact with UK, trade links, or either Commonwealth or European links.
The comparative data seem to me encouraging for those engaged in promoting internationalism and global solidarity in UK. Though breadth of support for giving excess vaccines to poorer countries is on the basis of everybody in the UK having been vaccinated ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-…
It has been estimated that three-quarters of people took part in "Eat Out to Help Out". People are now split (41% for, 42% against) on whether to do something like that again. [I'm a little surprised support is as high as 4/10 at this point after last time .... maybe later on?]
Vaccine passports could be a controversial theme. In principle, the public's intution is in favour (50%+) with one in five against. [But one could read a range of things into what is driving that finding].
My hunch is that a broad lack of sympathy for vaccine refusers - seen as selfish & anti-social - trumps (weak) civil liberties intuitions. Whether people would favour implications (during rollout) for those willing but not vaccinated (eg: age) seems to me not necessarily proven
Strong support for requiring proof of vaccination for foreign nationals to enter the UK - with two way street reciprocity of other countries requiring this from UK nationals too
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Free Speech Union proposes that, as the "simplest solution" the FA should ban any footballers from taking a knee (!) It also argues that fans who boo the gesture should not be sanctioned. But its preferred/proposed free speech solution is a ban on the knee, over a ban on neither.
There is a logic in FSU defending taking a knee (free speech) and defending support of it (speech) and opposition (counter-speech). It is a surprising departure to see its initial proposal being to curtail speech, on grounds it is political.
The FSU - in mooting the proposal to ban taking a knee - are appealing to the rules which were (disproportionately) used by Fifa to ban England & Scotland wearing poppies, until common sense prevailed on not banning the poppy.
Oh dear, oh dear. A fortnight after January 20th, here comes more US Presidential Election news from the parallel alternate universe of @maajidnawaz
Oh dear, oh dear. Opponents of Trump's empty, unsubstantiated electoral fantasies (that he could put to the US courts) and the fantastical conspiracies of Sidney Powell et al are now compared to the Emperor Palaptine in Star Wars!
Oh dear. Are we really going back to watch out for the Supreme Court intervention in the 2020 Presidential Election?!!
While ethnic minority vaccine hesitancy is an important concern, I was very disappointed by the lack of care/nuance with which the @bbcquestiontime chair seemed suggest there is an anti-vaccine norm among minorities. See attitudes evidence yesterday @NCPoliticsUK
Thread on evidence. Broadcasters have been careful about getting the balance right (the gap is a legit story to report). I do hope there will be an immediate editorial look at whether loose generalisations by @bbcquestiontime chair tonight got that wrong
Issue is much less @bbcquestiontime itself but whether elite 'word of mouth' may see broadcasters amplify anti-vaccine norm (why don't black prople/minorities trust vaccines?) rather than accuracy/nuance
> how can pro-vax norm widen?
> why is there a larger hesitant *minority*?
It is vg to see the USA now return to its long-held commitment to contributing to refugee protection, after a rupture with that tradition under the last administration.
President Biden has both a progressive and a broadly popular set of policies on immigration.
73% of Americans support taking in refugees fleeing war & persecution. 85% of Democrats but 58% of Republicans too despite Trump's unpopular 'populism' on this. (Pew, Sept 2019)
Perhaps counter-intuitively, Trump's highly polarising approach has shifted US attitudes against him overall. Surprisingly it is Republican voters who became more pro-refugee (while Democrats were confirmed in their already much more strongly positive views).