Have Americans Reached A Tipping Point for National Mandates? New Poll Suggests Yes.

UTICA, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Zogby Strategies nationwide online poll of 777 likely voters portends 2022 as a year of further backlash against national mandates – this comes in just as President Biden announced after Christmas "there is no federal solution to COVID."

The recent poll asked respondents whether it is "right or wrong to disobey mandates from the President". Overall, respondents are pretty split, with 39% believing it is right to disobey vs. 36% who say it is wrong (leaving 26% unsure).

A look at party identification reveals more Independent voters favor disobeying Presidential mandates – 42% to 31%. For Republicans, it's 49% - 26%, and for Democrats, 26% say it's ok to disobey, with 49% believing it's wrong.

With both Republican and Independent voters in favor of going beyond challenging and opting for disobeying mandates – Democrats get a signal that national mandates may not bode well for the upcoming mid-term elections.

Another question asked likely voters who has more legal authority – the FBI or their local Sheriff? Overall, 46% say their local Sheriff vs. 31% with the FBI. Again, party identification tells the story– Independents, Republicans, and Democrats – agree that their local Sheriff has more legal authority than the FBI (44% - 29%, 53% to 24%, and 42% to 40%, respectively).

While the FBI has no say in public health, the above data reveals a general preference for local management/enforcement and choice over federal mandates.

Finally, respondents were asked whether they believe in personal choice or prefer government to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine to Americans. Overwhelmingly, 53% prefer personal choice over government mandates (53% to 37%). For Democrats, one-third (33%) favor personal choice, as do a super-majority (72%) of Republicans and 55% of Independents. Also, 55% of those with college degrees and most age cohorts (except 65+) believe in personal choice of government mandates.

Managing Director Jeremy Zogby says, two years into the pandemic, the data reveals politics is still local as voters have less trust in federal mandates. If there is more push for national mandates from federal authorities, expect harder push back from Republican and Independent voters, as well as most age groups and the college-educated.

The Zogby Strategies online poll has an overall margin of sampling error of +/- 3.6 percentage points.

SOURCE John Zogby Strategies