A survey released Wednesday by Angus Reid suggests six out of ten Canadians do not expect a return to normal until the end of the year at the earliest.
Angus Reid, like other pollsters, has been keeping track of how Canadians feel throughout the pandemic. The new results suggest we are losing faith it will be over any time soon.
Asked when normal will return, 32 per cent said after 2021. Another 29 per cent said by the end of the year, and 21 per cent said "never." Only 18 per cent think restrictions will end by the fall.
[poll id="157"]
Half of the respondents also anticipate another "tough" year ahead, 48 per cent nationwide and 52 per cent in Ontario.
Asked about 2020, 63 per cent of Canadians asked characterized the year as "tough," while another 14 per cent called it "terrible."
Young men between the ages of 18 and 34 had the harshest judgement. One out of five of them called 2020 "the worst year of their life," while 22 per cent of those making less than $25,000 a year called it a low point.
The survey also took a look at how public perceptions of COVID-19 restrictions are received.
More than half of respondents in August thought the restrictions struck the right balance between stopping the virus and personal liberties. By January, that had fallen to 35 per cent. Those who felt they did not go far enough fell 11 percentage points between November and January, and those who believed they went too far rose to 28 per cent in January from 18 per cent in November.
Canadians continue to fear a friend or family member will fall ill with COVID-19. Eight out of ten named that as a concern.
The survey does not make a correlation, but last week's survey asked Canadians how they felt about the federal government's rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and those who gave Ottawa a failing grade rose 21 points to 44 per cent from just one month previous.