Economic Recovery, Mask Mandates, President Biden's Approval Rating and Olympic Athletes’ Mental Health - Morning Consult's Best Intel

Welcome to Morning Consult's Best Intel, a weekly roundup of the best data, charts and insights from Morning Consult.

This week, we take a look at how the Delta variant is threatening economic recovery in the U.S., Americans' opinions on re-upping mask mandates , President Biden's growing issue with nindependent voters , and opinions on Olympic athletes prioritizing their mental health .

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Charts of the Week

As coronavirus cases fell over the spring and early summer, companies hoped for a speedy return to normal. But, the spread of the Delta variant and increase in COVID-19 cases has slowed economic activity and added uncertainty to the longer-term outlook.

Morning Consult’s?August U.S. Economic Outlook report ?takes a look at the effect of heightened economic uncertainty, the start-and-stop recovery and the future of economic growth.

Download the Report

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As officials scramble to mitigate the spread of the delta variant by reissuing mask mandates, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey indicates not all Americans are willing to go back to wearing masks in public — and their views are more closely tied to their political leaning than their vaccination status.

While 63 percent of vaccinated adults said they’ll always or mostly wear masks, for example, just 48 percent of those who aren’t fully vaccinated said the same. The split is even wider by political affiliation, with 77 percent of Democrats saying they’ll mask up all or most of the time compared with 37 percent of Republicans, writes Morning Consult Health Reporter, Gaby Galvin.

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President Joe Biden’s standing among independent voters on the pandemic and the economy has taken a hit in recent weeks amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and rising inflation, according to new Morning Consult/Politico polling.

According to a Morning Consult poll, 44 percent of independent voters approve of Biden and 49 percent disapprove. Since April, the president’s net approval rating has dropped 18 percentage points among unaffiliated voters, writes Morning Consult Senior Reporter, Eli Yokley.

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In a Morning Consult poll conducted after Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s team and individual all-around competitions — but before her bronze medal performance on the balance beam Tuesday — 80 percent of U.S. adults said professional athletes should prioritize their mental health, even if it means not competing. Just 9 percent of respondents disagreed with that notion.

More than half of the U.S. adults surveyed said they believe professional and Olympic athletes today are under more pressure than their predecessors, while just 5 percent said they are under less pressure, writes Morning Consult Senior Sports Reporter, Alex Silverman.

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Other Numbers to Know

• Rising Delta variant cases and the new CDC indoor mask guidance are taking a toll on consumer comfort levels. Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults say they’re comfortable doing more than 40 activities on average, down from a record high of 55 percent in early July.?Read more.
• Forty percent of Americans said they’d seen “a lot” or “some” of the Tokyo Olympics, short of the 51 percent who said in a pre-games poll that they expected to watch.?Read more.
• Cryptocurrency became an unlikely target as part of a bipartisan Senate agreement on how to pay for the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package. After significant negotiations, lawmakers surprised the industry by including tougher scrutiny of digital assets as a potential way to pay for the investments, but more voters than not appear to be on board with the provision.?Read more.
• Throughout lawmakers’ partisan wrangling to iron out the details, the popularity of major infrastructure provisions held strong among voters, new polling from Morning Consult and Politico polling shows.?Read more .
• Twenty-five percent of millennials do “most” or “all” of their grocery shopping online, up from 14 percent pre-pandemic. They lead other generations, and every key demographic Morning Consult tracks, in their online grocery shopping behaviors.?Read more.
• The share of Fox News viewers who said they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated fell to 27 percent this week, an all-time low in Morning Consult tracking.?Read more.
• A Morning Consult survey taken among U.S. adults prior to the start of the Tokyo Olympics found that 40 percent of respondents viewed the IOC’s athlete demonstration policy as appropriate, while 17 percent felt it was too permissive and 15 percent felt it was too restrictive.?Read more.
• When asked about their plans for the upcoming school year, 47 percent of parents and students surveyed said they intend to shop mostly in stores for supplies, compared to 17 percent who said they plan to shop primarily online.?Read more.
• Workers are in high demand in the United States, and given the pandemic’s impact on how people think about work-life balance, hiring and keeping good employees is more challenging than ever.?Read more.

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What We're Tracking

Morning Consult is in the field every day, asking people around the world for their opinions on key economic, political, and consumer issues. And we're making a lot of that data available for you.

Be sure to check the pages below regularly for tracking data on a range of issues, updated daily, weekly or monthly.

Political Intelligence

Global Leader Approval ?-?President Biden dropped 2 points this week to reach his lowest net approval rating yet at +10.

Is the United States Heading in the Right Direction? ?-?Forty-three percent of adults believe we are heading in the right direction.

Trust in U.S. Institutions ?- Republican trust in the Supreme Court hit a new low this week at only 55 percent.

Research?Intelligence

Return to Normal ?-?For the third consecutive week, approval among voters for President Joe Biden’s handling of the coronavirus hit an all-time low, with 52 percent approving of his performance and 43 percent disapproving for a net of plus-9.

Global Vaccine Dashboard ?- The share of vaccine skeptics in the U.S. has remained at 30 percent for the past four weeks. Since Morning Consult began tracking in mid-April, that share has only fallen by 4 percentage points.

Consumer Confidence Dashboard ?- As the Delta variant drives a spike in new COVID-19 cases across much of the country, consumers in fewer states are feeling confident about the economy in July. Overall, sentiment declined in 41 of 50 states. With consumer sentiment rising in only eight states, July marks the worst month for state-level gains since November 2020 when the third wave was roaring through the U.S. and only four states experienced an increase in consumer confidence.

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