In an ongoing effort to gauge public views on the state of the nation, this month’s Daily Kos/Civiqs survey asked respondents about their holiday plans, how they compare to last year, and how concerned they are about the spread of the omicron variant. By and large, people are looking forward to a more festive season this year than last, with few poised to alter their plans based on the pandemic.

Indeed, 47% of registered voters feel like this holiday season will be more festive for their family than last year’s, while 39% said it would not, and 15% were unsure. For the most part, the question didn’t reveal big partisan differences, which suggests the improved outlook this year was shared more generally across party lines.

VOTERS SAYING THIS HOLIDAY WILL BE MORE FESTIVE FOR FAMILY THAN LAST YEAR’S

        Total
        Democrat
        republican
        independent
	


	
        yes
        47%
        51%
        44%
        45%
	
	
        no
        39%
        35%
        42%
        39%
	
	
        unsure
        15%
        14%
        14%
        16%

Similarly, the percentage of people who said they plan to travel this holiday season was spread pretty evenly across party lines. Overall, 36% of respondents said they intended to travel to visit family and friends, while 60% did not, and 4% were unsure. The cross tabs show very few partisan differences.

voters planning to travel to see family/friends this holiday

	
		
        Total
        Democrat
        Republican
        independent
	


	
        yes
        36%
        34%
        39%
        36%
	
	
        no
        60%
        62%
        57%
        60%
	
	
        unsure
        4%
        4%
        5%
        4%

Where Democrats and Republicans did part ways was in whether they were altering their plans this year based on the pandemic. Overall, 30% said they were doing less than they normally would, including nearly half of Democrats but a meager 12% of Republicans. But of the 61% overall who said they weren’t altering their plans at all, more than three-quarters were Republicans while less than half of Democrats said the same.

Voters changing their 2021 holiday plans based on the pandemic

	
		
        total
        democrat
        republican
        independent
	


	
        doing less than normal
        30%
        47%
        12%
        28%
	
	
        doing more than normal
        8%
        7%
        9%
        6%
	
	
        not making changes
        61%
        44%
        77%
        64%

Asked about their level of concern regarding the omicron variant, just 15% of respondents said they were extremely concerned, while nearly a quarter counted themselves either moderately concerned (23%) or only a little concerned (22%), and 39% said they weren’t concerned at all.

Not surprisingly, Democrats registered the most concern with 28% being extremely concerned and 37% being moderately concerned, while Republicans were in the single digits on both counts (3% extremely and 7% moderately concerned), and independents were somewhere in between (11% and 23%, respectively).

Results of the Civiqs survey echo those of an Axios-Ipsos poll this week that found few Americans had the appetite to change their holiday plans this year or really alter their behavior at all in response to omicron. But the survey also found that Americans remain overwhelmingly supportive of mask mandates.

The big picture emerging this season is one in which Americans are looking forward to mostly getting back to business as usual at the holidays while also largely supporting sound mitigation efforts.