The coronavirus pandemic has made Australians more anxious, more confused — and a lot more bored, a new survey suggests.
The COVID-19 Monitor, a new research project from Vox Pop Labs in partnership with the ABC, takes us inside the homes of Australians to reveal how they're really feeling as they live in self-imposed exile. It finds:
- The number of Australians reporting poor mental health has more than doubled compared to a month ago.
- The number frequently feeling despair has more than tripled.
- Those frequently feeling confusion is up more than five times.
- On a more positive note, the number of Australians frequently feeling a sense of solidarity has also jumped.
The COVID-19 Monitor also provides insights into what Australians think about governments' response to the pandemic — and the extent to which they're following the nation's isolation regime.
Most Australians back the Federal Government's response
And a clear majority approve of the job PM Scott Morrison and the premiers are doing
More people are worried about the economy than about catching coronavirus
But there's almost no appetite for an immediate end to restrictions
And only a very small minority think the Government has over-reacted
COVID-19 is having a big impact on Aussies' mental health
But almost everybody says they're sticking to the rules
About the data:
- The findings in this article are based on a survey fielded between April 18 and April 22, 2020, known as the COVID-19 Monitor (Australia) Wave 1.
- The survey was conducted by Vox Pop Labs, in partnership with the ABC.
- There were a total of 2,297 respondents to wave 1 of the survey.
- This survey helps reflect the opinions of a much larger sample of the population. Some questions were presented to a subset of users based on their socio-demographic characteristics or answers to specific question, and some questions were put to respondents at random.
- All data has been weighted on the basis of sex, age, education level, state and vote choice in the 2019 federal election — to provide a nationally representative sample of the Australian population.
