After 20 months of life in a pandemic, how is the morale amongst Luxembourgers? Do they agree with anti-Covid measures? What are their biggest concerns? The answers are here in the first part of a new Politmonitor poll carried out by TNS-Ilres on behalf of RTL and Wort.
Main concerns similar, but now includes climate and inflation
Similar to June 2021, voters remain most concerned about housing (82%), future opportunities for children (61%), increasing traffic (61%) as well as climate change (57%).
The topic of climate change and worries about rising prices have increased by 8 and 11 percent respectively, two topics that were really pushed into the spotlight in 2021 - the first with COP26, the latter with Luxembourg's spike in inflation and increasing fuel prices. Societal cohesion and an increase in mental illness are in 5th and 6th place respectively. 40% of respondents believe tax justice to be important, while mostly older respondents are concerned about the loss of the Luxembourgish language.
In terms of the government's handling of the pandemic, approval ratings sank by 10% between August-October of 2021 compared to March-June 2021. The lowest point was reached around this time last year, when 'only' 63% of voters approved of the government's job. Overall, however, the majority still approves of the coalition's work, with an average approval rating of nearly 80% throughout the health crisis.
Voters were also asked about whether they agreed with specific statements, or how much these statements worried them. 76% agreed with implementing CovidCheck in the hospitality sector, 74% were worried about the growing gap between rich and poor.
Read also: Covid crisis has not caused explosion in social inequalities, according to report: STATEC
67% of voters said they believe vaccinated, recovered or tested individuals should have more rights and freedoms. Over half of respondents are worried about the unemployment that will arise due to the pandemic, and only 11% think we will have overcome the pandemic by the end of 2021.
54% of respondents said that compulsory vaccination is the right way forward. But older people tend to agree more than youngsters, with 74% for those over 65 years old agreeing with the sentiment.
Furthermore, when asked about the emotional state of society after a year and a half of social distancing, face covering and reduced social contact, more people said they were 'unaffected' or 'nearly unaffected' compared to five months ago; 43% now compared to 39% in the summer.
But what strikes most is the impact of Covid-19 on young people: 18-34 year-olds say they suffer the most.
For this poll, 1,016 voters representative of the Luxembourg population were questioned during the period from 2-10 November 2021. Details on the methodology and the questionnaire are available on Alia.lu.
