By Josh Boak, Hannah Fingerhut and Ben Fox | The Associated Press

August 19, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — A significant majority of Americans doubt that the war in Afghanistan was worthwhile, even as the United States is more divided over President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and national security, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Roughly two-thirds said they did not think America’s longest war was worth fighting, the poll shows. Meanwhile, 47% approve of Biden’s management of international affairs, while 52% approve of Biden on national security.

The poll was conducted Aug. 12-16 as the two-decade war in Afghanistan ended with the Taliban returning to power and capturing the capital of Kabul. Biden has faced bipartisan condemnation in Washington for sparking a humanitarian crisis by being ill-prepared for the speed of the Taliban’s advance.

The president has stood by his decision to exit the country, insisting that he will not allow the war to continue indefinitely and betting that Americans agree with him.

Mark Sohl is among those who do. The 62-year-old Democrat from Topeka, Kansas, said “it wasn’t worth losing more American lives over a mess.”

Sohl added: “After 20 years, you got to cut loose.”

Others felt more conflicted after seeing grim scenes in Afghanistan even if they opposed the war overall. In one image likely to endure, Afghans clung to U.S. military planes in a desperate bid to flee the country.

“I don’t believe we should have been in there to begin with,” said Sebastian Garcia, a 23-year-old Biden voter from Lubbock, Texas, who said he had three cousins serve in Afghanistan. “But now that we’re leaving, I do feel we probably should stay after seeing, I guess you’d say, the trouble we’ve caused.”

Roughly two-thirds also suggest the Iraq War that coincided with Afghanistan was a mistake. Republicans are somewhat more likely than Democrats to say the wars in both countries were worth fighting. About 4 in 10 Republicans do, compared with about 3 in 10 Democrats.

Deborah Fulkerson of Pueblo, Colorado, believes it would be wise for the U.S. to remain in Afghanistan.

“I feel like us having a presence there just keeps things more neutral and safer there for those people and for us,” said the 62-year-old, who describes herself as “more conservative,” particularly on social issues.

Fulkerson acknowledged that she does not follow Afghanistan that closely, saying she is more concerned with gas prices and local news.

“I’m a Christian and I know where my future lies, and all of this stuff that’s going on that I have no control over except through prayer, I just can’t watch it all the time,” she said. “I would be negative all the time.”

About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned about the threat to the U.S. posed by extremist groups based outside of the United States; about another one-third are moderately concerned. Only about 1 in 10 say they are not concerned.

But nearly 20 years after the Sept. 11 attacks that spurred the Afghanistan war, more Americans say they perceive the major national security threats as being internal.

Roughly two-thirds say they are extremely or very concerned about the threat of extremist groups based inside the United States. About one-quarter are somewhat concerned, and about 1 in 10 are not concerned.

Republicans and Democrats see the threat of extremist groups based outside of the U.S. similarly: about half across party lines are extremely or very concerned. But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be strongly concerned about the threat of extremist groups based in the U.S., 75% to 57%.

Biden has largely focused his policy agenda on domestic issues such as rebuilding the U.S. economy after the coronavirus pandemic. That appears to be resonating with some Americans who see Afghanistan as a distant war but the costs of food, housing and transportation as inescapable.

Michael Lee Bettger, 47, said he voted for Donald Trump, but has been impressed by the economy under Biden and that is his priority. Bettger lives in Austin, Arkansas, and has never been this busy working industrial maintenance.

“Jobs are just overflowing,” Bettger said. “There’s not enough of me to go around.”

---

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

By James Anderson and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

August 20, 2021

DENVER (AP) — Anxiety in the United States over COVID-19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation’s hospitals once again fill to capacity.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that majorities of American adults want vaccination mandates for those attending movies, sports, concerts and other crowded events; those traveling by airplane; and workers in hospitals, restaurants, stores and government offices.

The poll shows that 41% are “extremely” or “very” worried about themselves or their family becoming infected with the virus. That is up from 21% in June, and about the same as in January, during the country’s last major surge, when 43% were extremely or very worried.

“I wouldn’t have said this a couple of years ago, but I’m not as confident as I was in America’s ability to take care of itself,” said David Bowers, a 42-year-old business analyst in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria.

Bowers, a Democrat, and his wife, a public school teacher, got vaccinated early. But they fret once again about their daughters, ages 7 and 9, attending school in a state whose Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed a law to block school districts from mandating masks, let alone vaccines.

A brief summer respite from COVID-19 fatigue included a family trip to New York. “COVID was pretty much out of mind,” Bowers said. “Now it feels like we’re going backward.”

Close to 6 in 10 Americans say they favor requiring people to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel on an airplane or attend crowded public events. Only about a quarter of Americans oppose such measures.

Roughly 6 in 10 also support vaccine mandates for hospital or other health care workers, along with government employees, members of the military and workers who interact with the public, such as in restaurants and stores. Support is slightly lower for requiring vaccinations to go out to a bar or restaurant, though more are in favor than opposed, 51% to 28%.

Nearly 200 million people, or just over 60% of the U.S. population, had received at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over half of the population was fully vaccinated.

Hospitals across the U.S. had more than 75,000 coronavirus patients as of last week, a dramatic increase from a few weeks ago but still well below the winter surge records. Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, Hawaii, Louisiana and Mississippi have set records for COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks, and the surge in the delta variant, combined with low vaccination rates, has produced a scramble to find beds for patients.

The poll suggests that despite increasing cases and greater concern about the virus, Americans have not stepped up their own precautionary behavior since June, though at least half still say they always or often wear a mask around other people, stay away from large groups and avoid nonessential travel.

Confidence in vaccines to withstand virus variants has not waned, either, as U.S. health officials this week announced plans to dispense booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection. The doses could begin next month.

Carla Jones, 37, of Lafayette, Louisiana, is a paraplegic with immunity problems and uses a wheelchair after she was severely injured in a car accident. Because of her health, she has been told by her doctor she cannot get the vaccine. She gets anxious visiting the doctor or when her grandchildren visit.

“I see someone next to me at the doctor’s without a mask, it makes my heart rapidly beat faster,” Jones said.

Jones, a Democrat, strongly favors vaccination and mask mandates, and not just for herself. “For the good of all,” she said. “I don’t have the shot, but I definitely wouldn’t want to pass it on to anyone else.”

The poll shows that 55% support requiring Americans to wear masks around other people outside their homes, while 62% support mask mandates specifically for workers who interact with the public, such as at restaurants and stores. Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 39% of Republicans are in favor of mask mandates for public-facing workers.

Robbie Allen, a 63-year-old retiree from Clifton, Texas, is fully vaccinated and will wear a mask when required by stores or other places. But the self-described independent who leans Republican insists it is a matter of personal choice, and he sees mandates as taking the joy out of life.

“The COVID is not going away very quickly, but I don’t think people should live in fear,” said Allen, who motorcycled with his girlfriend to this month’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which attracted hundreds of thousands to the South Dakota city. “People are going to die, but if we all hunker down, life gets miserable.”

Partisan gaps are also wide on vaccination requirements. In Arizona, Bowers has already taken time off work to pick up his daughter from school after she developed a high fever. They spent hours last week looking for a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site that wasn’t overcrowded. She tested negative. But the worries persist.

“My thinking is, the people who don’t want mandates are the people who need to be regulated,” Bowers said. “There’s a slim majority in this country making the right decisions. If it wasn’t for a slim majority as a country, we’d be in trouble.”

—-

Fingerhut reported from Washington.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

By Julie Pace and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

August 21, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is facing a summer slump, with Americans taking a notably less positive view of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his job approval rating ticking down.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 54% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, down slightly from 59% last month. While that’s still a relatively solid rating for a president during his first year in office, particularly given the nation’s deep political polarization, it’s a worrying sign for Biden as he faces the greatest domestic and foreign policy challenges of his presidency so far.

The biggest warning sign for the president in the survey centers on his handling of the pandemic. Last month, 66% of Americans approved of his stewardship of the public health crisis; now, that number has fallen to 54%, driven by a drop in support from Republicans and independents.

That decline in support coincides with other storm clouds gathering over Biden’s presidency, most notably the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan as U.S. troops withdraw and the Taliban cement their control of the country.

The poll, conducted August 12-16, as news of the Taliban’s movement into Kabul was widely reported in the United States, shows Americans about evenly divided over Biden’s handling of foreign policy (47% approve, 51% disapprove) and national security (52% approve, 46% disapprove).

Biden’s domestic policy agenda also faces an uncertain future on Capitol Hill, with Democratic leaders trying to mend party divisions over a pair of infrastructure bills and few signs of progress on voting rights or police overhaul legislation.

Still, Biden’s advisers believe his presidency is likely to rise or fall on his handling of the pandemic. As recently as early summer, the White House was all but declaring victory over the virus, backing the lifting of public health restrictions and encouraging vaccinated Americans to enjoy a return to normalcy this summer. Polling showed Biden winning plaudits for his approach to the pandemic not only from nearly all Democrats, but also a healthy share of Republicans.

Some of that support has eroded as a dangerous new strain of COVID-19 takes hold, worries about the virus grow and vaccination rates in the U.S. stall, leading more communities, businesses and schools to reinstate restrictions such as mask mandates that were lifted earlier this year when trends were heading in a more positive direction.

Biden has implored Americans to get vaccinated and has put in place vaccine requirements where he can, for federal workers and the military. But resistance to the vaccine has proven stubborn, largely in more conservative parts of the country that are now experiencing startling increases in COVID-19 cases.

“I think a lot of that is out of his hands,” said Judy Kunzman, 75, a Democrat from Middletown, Pennsylvania. “If he gets too dictatorial, there will be a lot more blowback.”

But Jeanette Ellis-Carter, 69, wants to see Biden push for more vaccine mandates across the nation. Despite being fully vaccinated, the Cincinnati resident recently contracted COVID-19 and worries that without vaccine requirements, more Americans will be at risk of getting sick.

“When I was a child in school, we were mandated to get the polio shot, measles. What’s any different about this?” she said.

Republican officials have led the opposition to the vaccine and mask measures that the Biden administration has put in place this summer. The August AP-NORC poll shows just 21% of Republicans approve of Biden on COVID-19, down from 32% last month and 43% in June. Among independents, 44% now support his handling of the pandemic, down from 72% last month.

Those shifts bring Biden’s approval rating on the pandemic more in line with the public’s views of his handling of other major issues, which largely split along partisan lines.

For example, the poll shows 49% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy and 49% disapprove. That’s down from 57% approval in April.

The White House is hoping that fall will bring final passage of a pair of sweeping bills that would pump money into the economy for infrastructure projects, as well as spending on health care, education and family services.

Biden cheered Senate passage of a hard-won, $1 trillion infrastructure bill that passed with bipartisan support. But that measure and a $3.5 trillion budget bill muscled through the Senate by Democrats face uncertain futures in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is trying to navigate between moderates who balk at the bigger bill’s price tag and progressives who insist it’s the price to be paid for their support of the bipartisan measure.

Another metric to watch for the White House: Americans have soured somewhat on the direction of the country, with 39% saying the nation is headed in the right direction, while 61% say it’s the wrong direction. Last month, 44% said the nation is headed the right way.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

By Collin Binkley and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

August 23, 2021

BOSTON (AP) — As COVID-19 cases surge around the country, a majority of Americans say they support mask mandates for students and teachers in K-12 schools, according to a new poll, but their views are sharply divided along political lines.

About 6 in 10 Americans say students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Similar shares say teachers and eligible students should also be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Masks have been a point of contention as U.S. schools reopen amid rising numbers of coronavirus cases. Questions about whether to require them have caused turmoil among parents and politicians, with some Republican governors banning mask mandates even as President Joe Biden threatens legal action against them.

In a reflection of that polarizing debate, the poll finds a wide partisan divide. About 3 in 10 Republicans said they favor mask requirements for students and teachers, compared with about 8 in 10 Democrats. There was a similar split over vaccine mandates in schools.

Some of the nation’s largest school districts will require masks for all students and staff this fall, including in New York City. That’s fine with Budhiono Riyanto, 37, of Queens, who will be sending his 7-year-old son, Gabriel, back to school next month.

“I understand personal choice, I understand personal freedom. But when it comes to public health, we should all be looking out for each other,” Riyanto said. “The best protection so far is to mask up and vaccinate.”

Others say masks shouldn’t be forced upon children.

Kim Oldfield, who lives in rural Jessieville, Arkansas, said masks are unpopular in her area. She opposes the idea of a mandate and says it should be up to families to decide. In her local school district, masks are optional this fall.

“America is supposed to be the land of the free,” said Oldfield, 70. “And when the government starts getting into your personal life and making you do things that you don’t want to do, people don’t like that.”

Parents are slightly less likely to support mask requirements than the broader population, the poll shows. Fifty-two percent of parents with school-age children said they supported a mandate for kids, while 28% opposed it, with a similar split over mandates for teachers.

There were also differences by race: About two-thirds of Black parents said they back mask mandates for teachers and students, compared with about half of white and Hispanic parents.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended universal mask-wearing for teachers and students inside school buildings this fall, citing the rapid spread of the delta variant.

In some areas with school mask mandates, tensions have flared in recent weeks. Protesters opposing mask requirements have filled school board meetings from Maryland to California, in some cases disrupting meetings and forcing them to postpone.

Most states allow school districts to set their own mask policies, but some including California, Illinois and Louisiana are requiring masks for students and teachers statewide. At least eight Republican-led states have moved to ban universal mask mandates in schools, including in Texas, Florida and Tennessee.

In Land O’ Lakes, Florida, Gail Jackson worries about sending her 12-year-old grandson to a school where masks are optional. Her grandson, Zahkai, wears a mask, she said, but some of his classmates don’t.

“I don’t know how it’s all going to play out in the end,” said Jackson, 74, who is Zahkai’s legal guardian. “My prayer is that somehow or another, an angel passes over and these kids are allowed to grow and mature without finding themselves in a hospital on a ventilator.”

Compared to mask mandates, school vaccine requirements have been rare. Some states and local districts have required vaccines for teachers, saying those who refuse must face regular virus testing. Some others have taken a harder stance, including Washington state, which says teachers must be inoculated or face dismissal.

Last week, the Culver City Unified district near Los Angeles was believed to be the first in the U.S. to require vaccines for all eligible students this fall. But student vaccine mandates are still uncommon, and the shots are not yet approved for children below age 12.

The poll shows 59% of Americans support vaccination requirements for teachers and nearly as many — 55% — say the same for students age 12 and over, who are eligible to be vaccinated. Among parents, support was lower, with 42% backing vaccine mandates for students.

Vaccinated parents were more likely to support mask and vaccine requirements than unvaccinated parents.

Jeff Hicklin in Falmouth, Maine, said he supports mask and vaccine mandates for teachers and eligible students. He says it’s the best way to protect those who are too young to be vaccinated, including his 7-year-old son, Oscar.

“We need to do everything we can to keep schools open and safe,” said Hicklin, 40, an accountant.

In Menomonie, Wisconsin, Erik Pederstuen has been vaccinated and plans to have his 9-year-old daughter inoculated once she’s eligible. But Pederstuen, a technical college instructor, said he doesn’t think coronavirus vaccines should be a requirement.

“I’m not an anti-vaccine person at all, I’ve just never liked the idea of it being forced,” said Pederstuen, 40. “I think everyone should get it, but I think it should be your choice.”

___

Fingerhut reported from Washington.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

By Alexandra Olson and Hannah Fingerhut | The Associated Press

August 26, 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces, according to a new poll, at a time when such mandates gain traction following the federal government’s full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 59% of remote workers favor vaccine requirements in their own workplaces, compared with 47% of those who are currently working in person. About one-quarter of workers — in person and remote — are opposed.

The sentiment is similar for workplace mask mandates, with 50% of Americans working in person favoring them and 29% opposed, while 59% of remote workers are in favor.

About 6 in 10 college graduates, who are more likely to have jobs that can be done remotely, support both mask and vaccine mandates at their workplaces, compared with about 4 in 10 workers without college degrees.

Christopher Messick, an electrical engineer who is mostly working from home in Brunswick, Maryland, said he wrote to his company’s human resources department to ask that employees be required to get vaccinated before they are recalled to the office.

Messick, who is vaccinated, said he doesn’t just worry about his own health. He said he also doesn’t want to worry about getting a breakthrough infection that could land an unvaccinated co-worker in the hospital.

“I don’t want sit an office for eight hours a day with someone who is not vaccinated,” said Messick, 41. “The people who are anti-vax, I see them as selfish.”

So far, many vaccine requirements are coming from private companies with employees who have mostly been able to work from home during the pandemic. The companies, including major tech companies and investment banks, have workforces that are already largely vaccinated and consider the requirement a key step toward eventually reopening offices. Goldman Sachs joined that trend Tuesday, telling employees in a memo that anyone who enters its U.S. offices must be fully vaccinated starting Sept. 7.

In contrast, few companies that rely on hourly service workers have imposed vaccine mandates because the companies are concerned about losing staff at a time of acute labor shortages and turnover. Exceptions include food processing giant Tyson Foods and Walt Disney World, which reached a deal this week with its unions to require all workers at its theme park in Orlando, Florida, to be vaccinated.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted before the FDA granted full approval of Pfizer’s vaccine, which some experts and employers are hoping will persuade more people to get the shot and support mandates.

Drugstore chain CVS said this week that pharmacists, nurses and other workers who have contact with patients will have to be inoculated, but the company stopped short of requiring the vaccine for other employees such as cashiers.

The AP-NORC poll showed high support for vaccine mandates among those who say they work in person in a health care setting, with 70% approving of vaccine requirements at their workplace.

The poll also showed divisions along racial lines.

Seventy-three percent of Black workers and 59% of Hispanic workers — who are more likely than white workers to work in front-line jobs — support mask mandates at their workplaces, compared with 42% of white workers. In addition, 53% of Black and Hispanic workers support vaccine mandates at their workplaces, as do 44% of white workers.

Despite mixed support for mandates among in-person employees, 71% of those workers said they themselves are vaccinated.

Mike Rodriguez, a maintenance worker at an auto dealership in Florida, said he got the vaccine in the spring after a diabetes diagnosis gave him a sense of urgency. But he said he leans against supporting a vaccine mandate at his job and does not mind that masks are not required.

“I don’t like being told what to do. Never have,” said Rodriguez, 54. “I’m going to wear mine no matter what. Just like whenever I go into a store. That’s my choice.”

Many large retailers, grocery store chains, food manufacturers and other companies have aggressively encouraged vaccinations with bonuses, time off, information campaigns and on-site vaccination access.

Janet Haynes of Topeka, Kansas, an education consultant who works part time as a package handler at a warehouse, said she struggled in March to get an appointment, putting herself on various waiting lists before she finally got a call. Now that vaccines are widely available, Haynes said she is frustrated with people who are reluctant to get them and she would support a requirement at her warehouse, where she dodges co-workers who flout a mask rule.

“We get so hung up on democracy and freedom, but the reality is that your freedom can’t exist at the expense of someone else’s loss,” said Haynes, adding that she recently had a breakthrough case of COVID-19 and credits the vaccine for her swift recovery. “We are not going to be free until we get vaccinated.”

____

The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.