High Point Poll: Half of North Carolinians have had COVID-19 booster

In the latest High Point University Poll, nearly half (48%) of adults in North Carolina said that they have received a booster shot of the Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson and Johnson vaccines against COVID-19. Almost three-quarters (72%) of North Carolina residents said they have received at least one shot.

Nearly half (53%) of North Carolinians said that they are concerned about becoming sick with COVID-19, and 30% said that they are not concerned. Only 12% of those surveyed said that they already tested positive for the virus, and 4% did not offer an opinion.

When asked about whether or not companies should be legally allowed to require employees to receive certain vaccines, North Carolinians were generally split. About two in five (45%) of respondents said companies should be legally allowed to require certain vaccines, while 46% said they should not. Another 9% of respondents did not offer an opinion.

The HPU Poll asked respondents how much they have heard about the omicron variant of COVID-19. A majority (60%) of the adults surveyed said that they have heard a lot about the variant, about a third (32%) said they had heard a little bit, while only 6% said that they heard almost nothing or offered no opinion. When asked how concerned they were about the omicron variant, about half (48%) of respondents said that they were either extremely concerned or very concerned. One-quarter (25%) of respondents said that they were somewhat concerned, 15% said that they were not very concerned, and 10% said that they were not at all concerned.

Only about a quarter of respondents said they think the omicron variant is more dangerous than previous strains of the virus, while two-thirds (66%) think the omicron variant spreads more easily than other variants of the COVID-19 virus.

The HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians if they received the seasonal influenza vaccine this year. Almost half (47%) said yes and 50% said no. Of those that responded no or were unsure, about one-fifth (19%) said that they intend to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine this year, while over two-thirds (69%) said that they do not. Another 13% offered no opinion either way.

“The number of people vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 continues to rise in North Carolina,” said Jordan Smith, assistant professor of clinical sciences at HPU’s Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy. “According to CDC data, fully vaccinated people have a 15-times lower risk of dying from COVID-19, and fully vaccinated people with booster doses have a 68-times lower risk. The vaccines remain our best defense against poor outcomes for COVID-19, especially for high-risk individuals.”

The poll also finds that majorities of North Carolinians see the coronavirus as a major threat to the U.S. economy (68%), the world economy (67%), the health of the U.S. population (61%) and the North Carolina economy (56%). Only a little more than one-third of these registered voters said that the coronavirus is a major threat to their personal health (36%) and to their personal financial situation (35%).

The HPU Poll also asked North Carolinians how much they trust a variety of sources of information about the coronavirus. The highest proportion said that they trusted their physician (46%) a lot. Other sources of information that respondents trust a lot were the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (34%), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (31%), local public health officials, such as officials from your county health department (30%), and the World Health Organization (29%). North Carolina residents also indicated that there were several sources that they don’t trust at all, including contacts on social media (39%); national newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today (25%); national news networks like Fox News, CNN or MSNBC (25%); and coworkers, classmates or other acquaintances (23%).

“A majority of HPU Poll respondents indicated that they see coronavirus as a major threat to not only the state economy, but to the U.S. and the world,” said Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll and adjunct instructor. “At the same time, these same poll respondents don’t see the coronavirus as a major threat to their own personal financial situation.”

 NC residents – COVID-19 Concern (January – February 2022)

Are you concerned about becoming sick with the COVID-19 virus, or are you not concerned about that?

Concerned – 53%

Not concerned – 30%

I already tested positive for COVID-19 – 12%

Don’t know/refused/unsure – 4%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – COVID-19 Vaccine (January – February 2022)

Have you personally received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or not?

Yes – 72%

No – 26%

Don’t know/refused/unsure – 3%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – COVID-19 Vaccine Booster (January – February 2022)

Have you personally received a booster or additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine after you were fully vaccinated, or not? This could include receiving a 3rd dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or receiving another vaccine after getting the one-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Yes – 48%

No – 50%

Don’t know/refused/unsure – 2%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Employer Requirements (January – February 2022)

Do you think companies should be legally allowed to require employees to receive certain vaccines?

Yes – 45%

No – 46%

Not sure – 9%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Omicron Variant (January – February 2022)

How much have you heard about the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus?

A lot – 60%

A little bit – 32%

Almost nothing – 6%

Don’t know/refused/unsure – 2%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Omicron Variant Concern (January – February 2022)

Given what you know about the omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus, how concerned are you about that variant?

Extremely concerned – 22%

Very concerned – 26%

Somewhat concerned – 25%

Not very concerned – 15%

Not at all concerned – 10%

Don’t know/refused/unsure – 3%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Omicron Variant Danger (January – February 2022)

Based on what you have seen or heard about the omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus, do you think it is more dangerous than the previous strains of the virus, less dangerous, or about the same as the other variants of the COVID-19 virus?

More dangerous – 26%

About the same – 41%

Less dangerous – 33%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Omicron Variant Spread (January – February 2022)

Based on what you have seen or heard about the omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus, do you think it spreads more easily than the previous strains of the virus, does not spread as easily or spreads about the same as the other variants of the COVID-19 virus?

Spreads more easily – 66%

About the same – 31%

Spreads less easily – 3%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Influenza Vaccine (January – February 2022)

Did you receive the seasonal influenza vaccine this year?

Yes – 47%

No – 50%

Don’t know/refuse/unsure – 3%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Influenza Vaccine Intent (January – February 2022)

Do you intend to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine this year?

[ONLY ASKED OF RESPONDENTS SAYING ‘NO’ OR ‘UNSURE’ TO HAVING RECEIVED FLU SHOT, N = 468]

Yes – 19%

No – 69%

Not sure – 13%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

 NC residents – Coronavirus Threat (January – February 2022)

How much of a threat, if any, is the Coronavirus outbreak to each of the following?  Would you say a major threat, a minor threat, or not a threat?

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

NC residents – Trust Sources of COVID-19 Information (January – February 2022)

How much do you trust the following sources of information about the coronavirus? Would you say a lot, somewhat, a little, or not at all?

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Jan. 21 – Feb. 4, n = 884 and credibility interval is +/- 3.4%)

The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Jan. 21 through Feb. 4, 2022, and an online survey was fielded at the same time. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 884 adults interviewed online (820 respondents) as well as landline or cellular telephones (64 respondents). The Survey Research Center contracted with dynata, formerly Research Now SSI, to acquire these samples, and fielded the online survey using the SRC’s Qualtrics platform. This is a combined sample of live phone interviews and online interviews. The online sampling is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.3 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.07 (based on the weighting). The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The final stage of weighting ensures proper weighting of the online and live interviews. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available here.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past studies can be found at theSurvey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. See more information here.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter here.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.