Concerns and Confidence in Institutions Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

With the COVID-19 pandemic still prevalent in the United States, it is important to assess the direct or indirect impacts of this virus on society. Different societal concerns have been brought to the forefront over the past two years, including the availability of healthcare, childcare, food or supplies, and education. In addition, societal institutions (such as healthcare, education, the media) have had to make fundamental and continual modifications to their operations throughout the pandemic. With public confidence of major U.S. institutions dropping in 2021 (Gallup Poll, 2021), it is important to better understand people’s most pressing concerns and how they view institutional responses to the pandemic. The current research will investigate participants' level of concern stemming from the pandemic and confidence in different institutions' ability to respond to the pandemic. The current goal is to compare the results at different time points as pandemic conditions change (i.e., new vaccines, treatments, or variants emerge) to not only assess absolute levels of concern and confidence but also to observe how they may change over time.