Covid’s wave of despair

Optimism falls as pandemic takes toll

OPTIMISM in Australia has crashed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, exclusive new polling for the Mercury has found.

Forty per cent of respondents to the nationwide YouGov survey of 2297 people said they were now less optimistic about Australia’s future than before the pandemic.

The grim outlook was felt more strongly by women (44 per cent) than men (37 per cent), although the sentiment was shared fairly even between the generations.

The souring mood was most pronounced in Tasmania, where 51 per cent of respondents said they were less optimistic about Australia’s future than they were two years ago, followed by Victoria (44 per cent), South Australia (42 per cent) and NSW (40 per cent).

The states with the toughest Covid-19 border controls had the lowest pessimism.

In Queensland, 36 per cent of those surveyed said they were less positive about the future and in WA it was 35 per cent.

Nationally, 48 per cent of respondents said they felt the same about Australia’s future as they did before the pandemic, and a remarkably resilient 11 per cent of respondents said they felt more optimistic.

YouGov’s Head of Public Affairs and Polling Dr Campbell White said a question on Australia’s future asked one year ago might have elicited a more optimistic response, but the Omicron wave had dashed a lot of hopes.

“We’ve had several points throughout this pandemic where it looked like we were on the way out, but events have thrust us back into the mire, if you will,” he said.

“The more that happens, people just start feeling less confident in the future, and I think that’s what’s happened.”

ANU political scientist Jill Sheppard said the pessimism could play a role in this year’s federal election, and was therefore “a real challenge for the government”.

ARE YOU MORE OR LESS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA THAN YOU WERE BEFORE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

“(They) have to convince voters that not only have they done an OK job, a passable job at managing Covid in Australia, but things really are going to get better,” Dr Sheppard said.

“And given how tired Australian voters are of this pandemic, I think there needs to be that optimism. And while it doesn’t exist, the government has a lot of work on its hands.”

CommSec Chief Economist Craig James said pessimism could feed into lower consumer spending.

He said two reports published last week showed consumer confidence was down but some retailers had recently revealed strong growth in online sales.

Despite the gloom, Australia’s economic fundamentals were still strong, Mr James said, with record low unemployment in some areas, low interest rates, low inflation and signs of strength in the construction sector.

But asked whether Australia could expect a snap back or a slow rebuilding of economic confidence, Mr James said it would take a while.

“If you asked me two years ago I would have said we’d get a snap back and everything will be fine, but of course Delta has been a game changer, Omicron has been a game changer … and we don’t know what sort of variant we’re going to get after this,” he said.