Amid the rollout of updated COVID-19 booster shots around the United States, a new Pew Research Center survey finds mixed views of public health officials at the forefront of the nation’s response to the outbreak.

About half of Americans (51%) say public health officials, such as those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have done an excellent or good job communicating with the public about the coronavirus outbreak; however, nearly as many (49%) say they have done an only fair or poor job. The CDC has received criticism for its COVID-19 response, prompting agency leadership to outline changes to the organization.

Asked in more detail about the response of health officials over the course of the coronavirus outbreak, a lack of preparedness is among the sentiments that registers most strongly with Americans: 46% say the statement “public health officials were unprepared for the outbreak” describes their views extremely or very well. Notably, similar shares of Republicans and Democrats express this view.

Yet many Americans also feel public health officials have been hampered in their efforts to respond to the outbreak: 45% of U.S. adults say the statement “interference from elected officials hurt public health officials’ ability to respond to the outbreak” describes their views extremely or very well.

Other sentiments about public health officials register less strongly with Americans overall, due in part to polarized views among partisans. For example, half of Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP strongly align with the statement that “the personal views of public health officials have had too much influence on policy,” while 24% of Democrats say the same. Conversely, 51% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say their views are described extremely or very well by the statement that “public health officials don’t get enough credit for the job they’ve done,” compared with just 15% of Republicans who say this.

The survey of 10,588 U.S. adults conducted from Sept. 13-18, 2022, also explores Americans’ views on the factors that have contributed to problems the country has had dealing with the coronavirus outbreak generally. Misinformation and partisanship are seen as top contributors to problems in the national response to the outbreak, ranking ahead of other factors such as the complex nature of the coronavirus and Americans failing to follow public health recommendations.

A majority (57%) of U.S. adults say false and misleading information about the coronavirus and vaccines has contributed a lot to problems the country has faced dealing with the outbreak. A similar share of Americans (54%) say disagreement between Democrats and Republicans about how to handle the outbreak has contributed a lot.

Nearly identical shares of Republicans and Democrats (57% and 58%, respectively) say false and misleading information about the coronavirus and vaccines has contributed a lot to the problems the country has faced dealing with the outbreak. The survey cannot address whether they were thinking of the same or different examples of such information. Previous Center surveys have found Republicans and Democrats express widely differing views on COVID-19 policies, the effectiveness of vaccines and the lessons they’ve taken away from the pandemic.

Other key findings include:

• Roughly seven-in-ten U.S. adults (71%) say they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, about the same as earlier this year. The share of U.S. adults who say they are fully vaccinated and have had a booster shot within the past six months is down from 49% in May 2022 to 38% in the new survey. As a result, a growing share of the adult population does not have the highest level of available inoculation against the disease.

• Looking ahead, among those who are fully vaccinated, about two-thirds say that they will probably get, or have already received, an updated COVID-19 booster shot designed to better protect against recent variants of the virus. Analyzing vaccination status and booster intent across all U.S. adults, 48% say they are fully vaccinated and will probably get (or have already received) an updated booster; 23% say they are fully vaccinated but will probably not get an updated booster shot; 21% say they have not been vaccinated; and 6% say they have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but need one more to be fully vaccinated.
• With personal concern about getting a serious case of COVID-19 continuing to edge lower, 69% of Americans say new variants of the coronavirus will not have a major impact on the country’s efforts to contain the disease. This marks a significant shift in public outlook from February 2021, when 51% said they thought new variants would lead to a major setback for the country and 48% thought they would not.

Americans point to false and misleading information, partisan disagreements as particular problems in dealing with COVID-19 outbreak

Americans see a range of factors as contributing to the problems the country has faced in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Foremost among these is false and misleading information; 57% of Americans say this has contributed a lot to problems the country has faced dealing with the outbreak, while 29% say this has contributed some. Just 14% say this has contributed not too much or not at all to the country’s problems dealing with the coronavirus.

A majority of U.S. adults (54%) also see partisan disagreements about how to respond to the outbreak as contributing a lot to the country’s problems dealing with it.

Smaller shares of the public see other factors as contributing a lot to the country’s problems with the COVID-19 pandemic, including ordinary Americans not following public health recommendations (44%), the complex nature of the coronavirus (35%) and government officials overreacting to the coronavirus (31%).

Republicans and Democrats share a concern about the role of false and misleading information related to the pandemic. A majority of Republicans and those who lean to the Republican party (57%) and of Democrats and Democratic leaners (58%) say false and misleading information has contributed a lot to problems dealing with the outbreak.

Sizeable shares of both Republicans and Democrats also believe that partisan disagreement has hindered the country’s efforts to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Overall, 48% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats say partisan disagreement over how to handle the coronavirus outbreak has contributed a lot to problems the country has faced dealing with it.

Republicans (53%) are much more likely than Democrats (12%) to say that government officials overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak contributed a lot to problems the country has faced in dealing with it.

Conversely, Democrats (64%) are much more inclined to say that ordinary Americans failing to follow public health recommendations contributed a lot to problems (versus 21% among Republicans). Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say the complex nature of the coronavirus has contributed a lot to problems the country has faced dealing with the outbreak.

There are also wide differences between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to the impact Dr. Anthony Fauci – the chief medical advisor to the president during the outbreak – has had on the country’s efforts to deal with the coronavirus.

On balance, more Americans say that Dr. Fauci has had a mostly positive (37%) than negative (28%) impact on the country’s efforts to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. Another 21% say his efforts have had an equal mix of positive and negative effects and 13% say they are not sure of their views on this question.

Democrats and Democratic leaners have largely positive views of Dr. Fauci’s impact: 62% say it has been mostly positive. By contrast, Republicans and GOP leaners have largely negative views of Dr. Fauci’s impact (57% say it has been mostly negative).

Americans’ ratings of public health officials edged up from earlier in the year; wide partisan differences remain

Ratings of the job hospitals and medical centers are doing responding to the outbreak continue to be higher than for any other group considered in the Center survey, though they have drifted down to 77% from 81% at the start of the year.

About four-in-ten U.S. adults (41%) say that President Joe Biden is doing an excellent or good job responding to the coronavirus, roughly the same as in January of this year.

About half of Americans say their state and local elected officials are doing an excellent or good job responding to the pandemic (49% each).

Ratings of state and local elected officials’ handling of the outbreak remain considerably lower than in March 2020, early in the outbreak.

Views of the performance of public health officials, such as those at the CDC, now tilt positive with 54% of Americans saying they are doing an excellent or good job responding to the outbreak. Positive ratings of public health officials have edged up from 50% in January of this year. Still, they remain far lower than they were during the early stages of the outbreak.

Republicans continue to be critical of how public health officials are responding to the outbreak, though the share saying they are doing an excellent or good job has increased from 26% in January to 32% in the new survey. A majority of Democrats (73%) continue to rate public health officials positively in the new survey, up 4 percentage points from January.

Americans’ views about the job public health officials have done communicating with the public over the course of the outbreak are closely divided: 51% say public health officials have done an excellent or good job communicating, while 49% say they have done an only fair or poor job in this regard.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) say that public health officials have done an excellent or good job communicating with the public. Republicans take the opposite view: 65% say that they have done an only fair or poor job.

Americans offer mixed reactions to public health officials’ COVID-19 response

As Americans evaluate how public health officials have responded to the coronavirus outbreak, they acknowledge some difficulty public health officials have faced but also tend to say officials were unprepared for the outbreak.

Overall, 46% of U.S. adults say that the statement “public health officials were unprepared for the outbreak” describes their views extremely or very well. Another 31% say it describes their views somewhat well, while 21% say it describes their views not too or not at all well.

At the same time, 45% of Americans also say the statement “interference from elected officials hurt public health officials’ ability to respond to the outbreak” describes their views at least very well.

When it comes to statements that reflect positively on public health officials’ response, 34% of Americans say the statement “public health officials don’t get enough credit for the job they’ve done” describes their views extremely or very well. And 31% say that “public health officials did as well as can be expected” in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak describes their views at least very well.

However, several statements critical of health officials’ response resonate with similar shares of Americans. Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say the statement that “the personal views of public health officials have had too much influence on policy” describes their views extremely or very well and 34% say “public health officials were too quick to dismiss views that challenged their scientific understanding.” Roughly three-in-ten Americans say public health officials were too slow to respond to changes in the outbreak (32% say this describes their views very or extremely well) or that these officials got the facts wrong about the coronavirus (29% say this describes their view very or extremely well.)

Republicans and Democrats tend to agree that public health officials were unprepared for the coronavirus outbreak

Republicans and Democrats offer competing descriptions of public health officials’ performance, though there are a few areas of general agreement.

Similar shares of Republicans (47%) and Democrats (46%) say the statement that public health officials “were unprepared for the outbreak” describes their views extremely or very well.

And roughly a third of each group sees public health officials as too slow to respond to changes in the outbreak (31% of Republicans and 33% of Democrats say this describes their views at least very well.)

Republicans are much more critical of public health officials than Democrats in other regards. About half of Republicans and Republican leaners see public health officials’ judgments as biased, and they strongly align with the statements that health officials’ personal views have had too much influence on policy and that they “were too quick to dismiss views that challenged their scientific understanding.” In addition, 45% of Republicans express strong agreement with the view that public health officials got the facts wrong about the coronavirus. Much smaller shares of Democrats say each of these three critiques describe their views well, including just 15% who say public health officials got the facts wrong.

In contrast, a 54% majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners say their views are described extremely or very well by the statement that public health officials’ ability to respond to the outbreak was hurt by interference from elected officials. About half of Democrats (51%) say that the statement public health officials “don’t get enough credit for the job they’ve done” describes their views at least very well; just 15% of Republicans say this.

Most Americans don’t expect major setback for country from coronavirus variants; personal concern over coronavirus continues to fall

The Center survey finds that a majority of Americans (69%) think new variants of the coronavirus will not have a major impact on the country’s efforts to contain the disease; far fewer (29%) believe that new variants will lead to a major setback for the country’s efforts to contain the coronavirus.

Concern about new variants of the coronavirus is down significantly from February 2021 when about half of the public (51%) thought new variants of the disease would lead to a major setback for the country.

Personal concern about getting a serious case of the coronavirus has continued to fall throughout the year. In the new survey, 30% of U.S. adults say they are at least somewhat concerned they will get COVID-19 and require hospitalization, down 10 points from the start of the year. A majority of the public say they are not too or not at all concerned about this.

Americans are relatively more likely to say they are at least somewhat concerned they might unknowingly spread the coronavirus to others (49%).

Concern about getting a serious case of COVID-19 remains higher among Black and Hispanic Americans. About half of each group (47% of Black and 49% of Hispanic Americans) say they are at least somewhat concerned about this. This compares with 22% of White Americans and 36% of English-speaking Asian Americans.

Women are slightly more concerned than men about getting a serious case of the coronavirus: 33% of women and 27% of men say they are at least somewhat concerned about this.

And despite the protections COVID-19 vaccines offer against getting the disease, Americans who are fully vaccinated express more concern over getting or spreading COVID-19 than unvaccinated adults.

No rise in the share of Americans who are vaccinated for COVID-19; 48% expect to get an updated booster for omicron variants, or already have

The survey finds 71% of Americans say they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. (Fully vaccinated is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.)

Center surveys find no increase in the share of U.S. adults who say they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since the start of the year. And the share now saying they have had a booster shot within the past six months is down from 49% in May to 38% in the current survey, resulting in a smaller share of the general public that has the highest level of available protection against the disease.

Uptake of a new booster shot, targeting recent variants of the coronavirus, has been slower than expected. The survey, conducted shortly after updated booster shots first became available, finds about half of Americans say they will probably get an updated vaccine booster or that they already have (44% and 4%, respectively); 23% of Americans say they will probably not get an updated booster shot. The question about updated booster shots was only asked of adults who are fully vaccinated. About two-in-ten adults (21%) have not received a COVID-19 vaccine and 6% say they have received one dose but need one more to be fully vaccinated.

As with vaccines generally, older adults are more inclined than younger adults to get an updated booster shot. Among adults ages 65 and older, 56% say they will probably get an updated booster shot and 6% have done so already. Among adults under 30, four-in-ten say they will probably get one and 5% have already done so.

Vaccination status continues to vary by age, party affiliation and other characteristics.

As in previous Center surveys, an overwhelming majority of Democrats (85%) say they are fully vaccinated, compared with 58% of Republicans.

Older adults continue to be more likely than younger adults to say they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. A large majority of adults ages 65 and older – including 74% of older Republicans and 93% of older Democrats – say they are fully vaccinated.

Americans living in urban areas (76%) are more likely than those living in rural areas (60%) to be fully vaccinated as well.

White evangelical Protestants remain less likely than other major religious groups to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus; 57% of this group says they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Among White evangelical Protestants, 27% say they will probably get an updated booster shot and 2% have already done so. See the Appendix for more details.

This report is made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts. It is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals. Find related reports online at: pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/science.

Primary research team       

Cary Funk, Director, Science and Society Research  
Alec Tyson, Associate Director, Science and Society Research
Brian Kennedy, Senior Researcher
Giancarlo Pasquini, Research Associate
Alison Spencer, Research Analyst     
Emily Saks, Research Assistant

Editorial and graphic design          

Rebecca Leppert, Editorial Assistant
Margaret Porteus, Information Graphics Designer
Peter Bell, Design Director

Communications and web publishing      

Haley Nolan, Communications Manager
Reem Nadeem, Associate Digital Producer

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Overview

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish. The panel is being managed by Ipsos.

Data in this report is drawn from the panel wave conducted from Sept. 13-18, 2022. A total of 10,588 panelists responded out of 11,687 who were sampled, for a response rate of 91%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 3%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 1%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 10,588 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Panel recruitment

The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 9,942 (50%) agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based recruitment. Invitations were sent to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. Sampled households receive mailings asking a randomly selected adult to complete a survey online. A question at the end of the survey asks if the respondent is willing to join the ATP. In 2020 and 2021 another stage was added to the recruitment. Households that did not respond to the online survey were sent a paper version of the questionnaire, $5 and a postage-paid return envelope. A subset of the adults who returned the paper version of the survey were invited to join the ATP. This subset of adults received a follow-up mailing with a $10 pre-incentive and invitation to join the ATP.

Across the five address-based recruitments, a total of 22,546 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 19,796 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. In each household, one adult was selected and asked to go online to complete a survey, at the end of which they were invited to join the panel. Of the 29,738 individuals who have ever joined the ATP, 12,142 remained active panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range.¹ The American Trends Panel never uses breakout routers or chains that direct respondents to additional surveys.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was noninstitutionalized persons ages 18 and older, living in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. It featured a stratified random sample from the ATP in which panelists were sampled at rates designed to ensure that the share of respondents in each stratum is proportional to its share of the U.S. adult population to the greatest extent possible. Respondent weights are adjusted to account for differential probabilities of selection as described in the Weighting section below.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with Ipsos. The web program was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the Ipsos project management team and Pew Research Center researchers. The Ipsos project management team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

Incentives

All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or a gift code to Amazon.com or could choose to decline the incentive. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Sept. 13-18, 2022. Postcard notifications were mailed to all ATP panelists with a known residential address on Sept. 12. 

Invitations were sent out in two separate launches: Soft Launch and Full Launch. Sixty panelists were included in the Soft Launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on Sept. 13. The ATP panelists chosen for the initial Soft Launch were known responders who had completed previous ATP surveys within one day of receiving their invitation. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking panelists were included in the Full Launch and were also sent an invitation on Sept. 13.

All panelists with an email address received an email invitation and up to two email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. All ATP panelists that consented to SMS messages received an SMS invitation and up to two SMS reminders.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, the Center’s researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing clear patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for very high rates of leaving questions blank, as well as always selecting the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, five ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

Weighting

The ATP data is weighted in a multistep process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of selection for their initial recruitment survey. These weights are then rescaled and adjusted to account for changes in the design of ATP recruitment surveys from year to year. Finally, the weights are calibrated to align with the population benchmarks in the accompanying table to correct for nonresponse to recruitment surveys and panel attrition. If only a subsample of panelists was invited to participate in the wave, this weight is adjusted to account for any differential probabilities of selection.

Among the panelists who completed the survey, this weight is then calibrated again to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Dispositions and response rates

© Pew Research Center, 2022