FAYETTEVILLE -- About seven out of every 10 Arkansans have known someone who died or was hospitalized from covid-19, according to statewide poll results released Thursday.
Mask requirements aimed at reducing the spread of covid-19 in schools were supported by about half of those polled, according to findings in this year's Arkansas Poll, sponsored by the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
The poll, in its 23rd year, also found a steep rise in pessimism about the economy.
"Most of the pessimism forecasted is coming from people who identify with the Republican Party," said Janine Parry, the UA political science professor who designs the poll.
The share of Arkansans knowing someone who died or was hospitalized with covid-19 hit close to the percentage of Americans responding the same way in a national survey, Parry said.
The percentage was 69%, according to the Arkansas Poll, compared with 72% of respondents to a Pew Research Center national survey conducted in August.
Parry said 72% of Black respondents in the Arkansas Poll said they knew someone who died from covid-19 or was hospitalized, compared with 69% of white respondents answering the same way.
But these differences were within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Sampling of other racial and ethnic groups was too small to have certainty in the results, Parry said.
[LINK: Click here to view data from the Arkansas Poll » arkansasonline.com/115poll/]
The Arkansas Poll involved 800 telephone interviews done between Oct. 12 and Oct. 24. The average age of those polled was 61.
The poll showed mask requirements were most popular for air travel, with 61% of respondents favoring mandatory face coverings on airplanes.
Other possible mask requirements fared worse in the poll, with 51% of respondents favoring mandatory face coverings at sporting events or concerts, or as a requirement to attend public universities in person.
Half of respondents favored a mask requirement to attend K-12 public schools.
The state's largest public universities currently have indoor face covering requirements, while in public K-12 schools masking policies vary by district.
A state law passed this year prohibited public schools and public universities from imposing mask mandates, but the law has been temporarily blocked after a legal challenge to the masking prohibition.
The poll showed covid-19 vaccination requirements were generally less popular than masking mandates, though 48% approved of requiring vaccination to travel by airplane. A total of 42% of respondents favored a covid-19 vaccination requirement to attend public colleges and universities in person, and 39% favored such a requirement for attending K-12 public schools.
Lawmakers in Arkansas this year barred state entities from imposing covid-19 vaccine requirements.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
An executive order from President Joe Biden could affect workers at some of the state's largest universities, but it does not apply to students who aren't employees. The order calls for federal contractors to have workers vaccinated against covid-19, and some large universities in the state are recipients of millions in federal contracts.
LOOKING AHEAD
Questions about finances showed a higher percentage of gloomy outlooks among Arkansans compared with past years.
Asked if they expect to be better or worse off financially a year from now, 27% said worse off, while 45% said about the same and 21% said better.
It was the first year since 2013 that the poll showed a greater percentage of respondents stating that they'll be worse off compared with those stating they'll be better off. In last year's poll, 6% said they expected to be worse off in a year.
The poll collected data identifying respondents as Republicans, Democrats or as political independents, and Parry said political leanings appeared to influence responses to questions about financial outlooks.
Data showed that 38% of Republicans said they expect to be worse off financially next year, compared with 11% of Democrats and 27% of independents, Parry said.
"I think these economic answers are politicized in ways we haven't seen before," Parry said, noting the state's current low unemployment rates, which are typically viewed as a sign of a healthy economy.
But Parry said that in a time of "hyper-polarization,"Arkansans appear to be reacting to having Biden, a Democrat, in the White House after he beat Donald Trump, a Republican, in the 2020 election.
"The party in charge of our national fiscal policy is not the party favored by the majority of Arkansans," Parry said.
In response to a more general question that asked if Arkansas is heading in the right direction, 61% of all respondents said yes, down from 77% a year earlier. It was the lowest percentage since 2016, when 57% said Arkansas was headed in the right direction.
Asked whether global warming or climate change will pose a serious threat in their lifetimes, 39% of respondents answered yes. The percentage has increased each year since 2016, when 25% said they expect to see serious problems from climate change.
POLITICAL FIGURES
The poll showed sliding approval rates for the top political figures in the state -- all Republicans -- though approval percentages were at least close to results in polling done before the covid-19 pandemic.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson had an approval rating of 57% among all poll respondents, down from 69% a year earlier. In 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic, Hutchinson's approval rating was 61%.
"Governors around the country have taken a hit in their approval ratings," Parry said, as "patience seems to be wearing thin" in the second year of the ongoing pandemic. Hutchinson's approval rating is "actually pretty good for his peer group," Parry said.
Data from the poll suggests "overwhelming" support for a Republican to win the 2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election, Parry said.
Poll results showed 46% of all respondents stating that they were likely to vote Republican in the governor's race, compared with 21% likely voting for a Democrat. Another 34% give a different answer or declined to respond.
U.S. Sen. John Boozman's approval rating slipped to 37% from 50% a year earlier. In 2019, his approval rating was 39%.
Parry noted that Boozman -- a U.S. senator since 2011 -- faces multiple challengers in the Republican primary next year, including Jan Morgan and Jake Bequette, who are each well-known in Arkansas.
The state's other senator, Tom Cotton, had an approval rating of 49%, down from 58% a year earlier. In 2019, Cotton's approval rating was 45%.
Biden, a Democrat, received a 30% approval rating in his first year of the presidency, a number similar to poll results for the previous Democrat in the White House, Barack Obama, who had approval ratings of 27% in 2013 and 28% in 2015.