Britons do not believe life will go back to normal by Christmas, poll suggests

Public believe prime minister and government ‘making up their coronavirus policies as they go along’

The vast majority of the British public do not believe life will go back to normal by Christmas, a poll suggests.

Just over one in 10 (11 per cent) said they expected life to have returned to normal by Christmas, a prediction made by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, last week, while almost three-quarters (72 per cent) disagreed.

The Kekst CNC international tracking survey found the public believe the prime minister and his government are “making up their coronavirus policies as they go along”.

But it suggested the public’s view on how many people have died from the coronavirus are up to 100 times worse than reality.

It also found workers who have returned to work reported a better, more productive and safer experience than they expected.

The survey of 1,000 adults in the UK found expectations of a second wave of Covid-19 have increased significantly since June, with three-quarters (76 per cent, up from 72 per cent) expecting the virus to make a resurgence in the next year or so. In other countries surveyed, 64 per cent of people on average said the same.

Britons also expect the impact of the virus to last longer, with more than nine in 10 (91 per cent, up from 87 per cent in June) saying Covid-19 will impact the economy for at least another year, while a clear majority (62 per cent, up from 54 per cent), believed it would last more than two years.

The survey found around one in three could not say how many people in the UK have or have had Covid-19.

On average, the public believe one in five (22 per cent) of Britons have had the virus – more than four times the figures published by the ONS. Similarly, those surveyed thought 7 per cent of the population had died of the virus – more than 100 times the figures published by Public Health England.

The research found the public’s views of the government and the prime minister’s response to the crisis has worsened.

Mr Johnson’s rating was net -12 per cent compared to net -7 per cent in June, while the government’s rating was net -10 per cent compared to net -7 per cent in June.

Two thirds (67 per cent) of the public believe “the government seems to be making up its coronavirus policies as it goes along,” while only 13 per cent disagree. The view was held by a majority across all groups surveyed, including Conservative voters by a two to one margin (50 per cent and 25 per cent respectively).

“This research shows why the UK is still the nation most worried about the virus,” James Johnson, senior adviser at Kekst CNC and former senior opinion research and strategy adviser at 10 Downing Street, said.”

“The British people think nearly a fifth of people have had coronavirus, that one in 10 people have it now, and that one hundred times as many have died of it than actually have. It is in this context that more people are expecting a second wave, and that almost three-quarters disagree with the prime minister’s claim that things will be back to normal by Christmas.

“The better news for the government and employers is that people who have returned to work in the UK say it is better, safer, and more productive than they expected. But businesses are not protected from public anger – and as we move into the next phase of the crisis, people’s views on business brands are deteriorating. And with questions about the speed of the exit from lockdown, high levels of concern about the virus, and falling approval ratings, the government continues to face significant challenges as it tries to restart the economy.”