To ask who the hell they are polling

[AndImmrsbuckett]

Recent polls seem to send the overwhelming majority of people (in the UK) support lockdowns despite:
-the first two being complete failures
-education ruined
-civil libberties trashed
-religious freedoms tramped on
-economic ruined
-mass unemployment
-huge spike in people killing themselves
-the “save lives” idea blown apart by the fact lockdowns also cost many lives
-women (and men) trapped with their abusers
Aibu to ask who are these people that they are polling?

Opinion polls? Looks like it's time for this again ...

-less people dying

I agree. I am against any lockdown of any kind and I find it weird that so many people support them and have been so compliant in giving up their rights and liberties.

People that have a better understanding of the facts than you do. Clearly.

If only they only asked MNetters eh? Ensure they get the "right" answers...

Over Christmas it was "should schools close?" and loads of yes's and of course's and people saying they wouldn't send their children back anyway. Then it happens - on-line learning for most of course, not closures - and the tide turns.
And if anyone doesn't realise why the spread of infection needs to be slowed, the impact of the mutated virus across all age groups, and therefore they don't agree with lockdowns must need their heads tested. How do they propose to slow the infection rate down I wonder? I'd love to know.

Not all the points in your OP are true.

first 2 lockdowns, both brought down the rate significantly while on lockdown, enough to protect the hospitals.
Currently, we are heading to people not getting treated when sick with Covid due to hospitals being overwhelmed, and loads of people already dying etc of other things as there is no spare capacity in NHS. NHS staff on their knees and facing being overwhelmed.

suicide rate did not rise at all in lockdown, in fact, in went down at one point much to everyone's surprise.

religious freedoms? I go to church every Sunday on zoom. Not as good as in person, but it works. And technically we could still meet, but we have decided not to.
Nothing is stopping be from praying, reading my Bible, talking tomy friends about my faith, I have worked in countries with no religious freedom, this is nonsense to suggest we have lost it.

save lives v. people dying. Yes I agree that people are dying. They will either die of cancer or covd. Not a great choice, but if we don't lock down, then thousands and thousands more will die. It is awful to not get treatment for cancer. It will be worse (as in total numbers of people dying) if those people die of cancer plus thousands die of covid.

Civil liberties - interestingly dh and I were talking about this. Countries with very few civil liberties eg China, Taiwan etc have done very well in controlling the virus. The more freedom a population has, the worst they have done, so Japan and Korea, not so well, and then Europe and USA have messed it up. So I would suggest that the fact we normally enjoy a lot of freedom, is exactly why we are in the mess we are in. (not that I think we should have less liberty, just an observation)

I am in support of this lockdown. We should not have relaxed over Christmas, my area, which was doing OK in November is now seeing rocketing cases. My local hospital is overwhelmed, and we haven't seen the Christmas spike hit yet.

This wave is so much worse due to the new variant, without the new variant, we would ahve been Ok doing tier 3 type things

Lockdowns work.
Lockdowns would be more effective if everyone stuck to the rules.
Stricter lockdowns for shorter periods have been shown to be more effective in other countries than the indecisive, ambiguous lockdowns imposed in the UK. They would also have a less significant negative impact on the economy and people’s mental health.
Education isn’t ruined. Don’t be so over-dramatic.
Civil liberties aren’t being trashed. This is a small hardship if it relieves the pressure on the NHS and saves lives.
I’d love to see how people like you coped in WWII. Would you be refusing to put blackout blinds up and moaning about having to go into an air raid shelter?

My friends son was sent home just before Xmas in a secondary school "bubble" of I believe about 60 pupils. Since then the virus has swept through the bubble and their families. This was not happening earlier in the year when large groups of school children were sent home to isolate. It's very contagious now and all age groups are vulnerable to it. This is reflected in the reported infection rates in schools in the weeks leading up to Xmas and must have influenced government decision making.

The majority do seem to be supportive though I hope that that is changing.
Fundamentally, people were frightened, and every time their fear started dissipating, the narrative changed.
The data is being used as if the number of cases is something to send us all screaming to the hills; whereas there actually needs to be a nuanced approach to the cost/benefit analysis, which very clearly goes against lockdown for all sorts of reasons.
People aren't nuanced though and we do love a drama so many are very highly invested in the narrative.

Just download the YouGov app and sign up.

Rich boomers in nice, safe jobs with their own large house and garden that are not impacted by lockdown in any way?

I think we need to pick a plan and stick to it. Lockdown will only work if we maintain it until the numbers are tiny or nil, not opening pubs the first chance we get.
Or we stick it out, get to work and school, accept that more people will die of covid but protect the economy and our future.

We're fucking the economy and kids educations but people are still dying because we keep having breaks.

the first two being complete failures
Untrue. They were successes both time the virus levels were brought down and NHS services were freed up therefore completing exactly what they were meant to do.
-education ruined
Rubbish! Education has not been ruined. Teachers have educated in person from September to December and have worked hard to do so at personal risk. Online sessions are taking place around the country.
-civil libberties trashed
We also have liberty to health services and safety in the work place.
-religious freedoms tramped on
Religious freedoms have at no point been trampled on. At no point have people been banned from religion. Religion does not have to take place in a certain building
-economic ruined
Would also be ruined by hundreds of thousands of people dying
-mass unemployment
See above
-huge spike in people killing themselves
As above poster said this is not true
-the “save lives” idea blown apart by the fact lockdowns also cost many lives
Can you link evidence please
-women (and men) trapped with their abusers
It was made incredibly clear that domestic violence victims have an out written into law
Aibu to ask who are these people that they are polling?
Anyone who doesn't want mass deaths for the sake of you meeting up with a friend for coffee

Evidently the OP has no grasp of polling methods OR reality. Can't distinguish between fake news and the facts.

OP, I think you're mistaking the echo chamber that you live in for the general population. I think the majority do see why lockdowns are necessary. They probably hate it too, but life if full of things that are unpleasant and not great.

They will be polling a representative cross section (see if they cite which polling organisation they have used, the main companies are all reputable)

It's not unusual to find that your own point of view isn't the majority one. That's not the fault of the polling, nor of the level of comprehension in the rest of society. It's simply that your viewpoint does not command the level of support that you had assumed.

@thefallthroughtheair

The majority do seem to be supportive though I hope that that is changing. Fundamentally, people were frightened, and every time their fear started dissipating, the narrative changed. The data is being used as if the number of cases is something to send us all screaming to the hills; whereas there actually needs to be a nuanced approach to the cost/benefit analysis, which very clearly goes against lockdown for all sorts of reasons. People aren't nuanced though and we do love a drama so many are very highly invested in the narrative.

I love it that some people use the term "fear" when people are trying to be sensible and try their best to get this pandemic under enough control to treat the sick and get vaccines to as many as possible as quickly as possible. Many are pragmatically getting on with this shit show of a year (plus) and desperately hoping for an end.

You toss around the word "fear" to make yourselves feel better and somehow superior to those following the guidelines. I sincerely hope that people won't become less supportive because that's a situation I don't want to see, thanks very much.

Well, they polled me and DH. They can poll you as well -yougov.com, sign yourself up!

I support lockdowns. I do not believe the first one was a failure, I believe it was a success. It would have been more successful if it had been 2 weeks earlier and much harsher (closing ports and airports etc), and could have needed a few weeks sooner due to that.

The second one wasn't really lockdown!

I do not like being locked down, but I accept it is wholly necessary. I am dismayed that so many people seem willing to risk lives so that they can carry on regardless. We have all had to make sacrifices in the course of the pandemic and people not being sensible: having parties, visiting any number of relatives, back door lock-ins and not socially distancing are going to prolong the pandemic.

Aibu to ask who are these people that they are polling?

anyone working on a Covid ward?

Vast majority of people I know support lockdown because they can see the numbers, they comprehend basic epidemiology and they realise what's necessary. With or without government policy, most people I know would be restricting their lives in these circumstances anyway. Remember how in March a lot of people essentially locked down before the government did.

Vast majority of people I know ALSO moan about lockdown because it's shit, especially in the winter, and they're suffering in a variety of ways. It doesn't mean we don't support it!

As for your list of apparent arguments against lockdowns... Lockdown 1 was undoubtedly a success until holidays abroad and Eat Out and universities/schools fucked it all up. There is NO evidence for suicides spiking - I believe the Samaritans have debunked that claim as fake. The economy will suffer not because of lockdown but because of the global pandemic - and not locking down will tank it even more in the medium/long term.

And for the millionth time, it's noticeable that no one who bangs on about sensible public health policy in a global pandemic infringing their precious civil liberties has ever given a damn about the many injustices and inequalities the state has historically perpetrated on marginalised communities. If you really care about civil liberties your priority should be to go and protest outside Yarl's Wood or against deportations or against the arms trade, not whinging about masks.

Aibu to ask who are these people that they are polling?

People from all across the UK, with differing opinions/ages/cultures, not just you and your friends.

I think the November lockdown is directly responsible for the deaths we are seeing now.

We can’t as a country go on like this. So many peoples lives are going to be or have been so impacted by lockdown that the effect of lockdowns is worse than trying to keep the infection rates down.
It might be an unpopular opinion but we are not stopping people dying. These people would more than likely die anyway. We are just extending the time line over which the deaths occur.
I have seen there might be a genetic link between dying of Covid and a particular genetics. I have seen very elderly and very ill people recover from what looked like a mild Covid infection yet in a couple of different families more than 1 member of the family who were young and healthy die from it and other family members be hospitalised.
I think we should be looking more into that side of things and maybe if you have had a family member hospitalised your family go top of the list to be vaccinated.

I’ve been polled, anyone can sign up to yougov for free. Nice way of earning pocket money.