Record-High Worry in U.S. About Hunger, Race Relations

[DonViejo]

Source: Gallup

MARCH 26, 2021

BY MEGAN BRENAN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

55% of Americans worry a great deal about hunger and homelessness
48% worry a great deal about race relations, up 17 points since 2020
High-level worry about unemployment rose 15 points between 2019 and 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- One year after the coronavirus pandemic upended Americans' lives and caused an economic crisis, worry about hunger and homelessness in the country eclipses concerns about 13 other national issues for the first time. The 55% of U.S. adults who say they personally worry "a great deal" about these consequences of poverty marks an eight-percentage-point increase since last year and the highest point in 20 years of measurement.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans highly worried about the economy has climbed 16 points, to 49%. A similar 15-point increase to 38% is seen in the public's worry about joblessness since 2019 (it was not included in the 2020 poll), which reflects the historic pandemic-fueled spike in the U.S. unemployment rate last spring. While the national unemployment rate has dropped since then, it remains higher than it had been for more than five years before the pandemic began.

Yet, it is not just COVID-19 that is behind substantial increases in the public's worry levels over the past year. The 17-point surge in high-level worry about race relations, to a record-high 48%, is likely owed to increased attention to racial injustice in the U.S. after the death of George Floyd while in police custody last May.



These latest data are from a March 1-15 Gallup poll, which also finds a 15-point surge to 37% in the percentage of Americans expressing a great deal of worry about the availability and affordability of energy. This increase comes in the wake of February's Texas power grid failure and steadily rising oil prices.

Read more: https://news.gallup.com/poll/341954/record-high-worry-hunger-race-relations.aspx

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Did the press ask a single question about either topic yesterday?