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Most Britons say their 2020 has been ‘OK’ and some said it was ‘great’

Pollster YouGov asks 3,016 people how their year has been so far

Joe Middleton
Friday 13 November 2020 03:35 EST
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People make their way past a social distancing sign on the High street in Winchester, Hampshire
People make their way past a social distancing sign on the High street in Winchester, Hampshire (PA)

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Despite a global pandemic and two lockdowns, a large proportion of Britons said their 2020 had been “ok” while a tiny sliver of the population thought the year had been “great”, a new survey has revealed.

Pollster YouGov asked 3,016 adults the question: “How has the year 2020 been so far for you…?”

Perhaps unsurprisingly in a year dominated by coronavirus, 22 per cent of people said it had been “terrible” and 29 per cent said it was “bad".

But despite the many set-backs of the year, 37 per cent still said it had been “ok”. And some people even managed to squeeze some joy out of the year, as 2 per cent said it had been “great".

The responses differed slightly by region, with a marginally higher proportion of Londoners and Scots surveyed thinking the year was “great” (3 per cent).

Out of respondents in the North, only 1 per cent said the year was “great” and 26 per cent said it was “terrible”.

There were also differences according to the age of the person asked.

Considering coronavirus has had an inordinate impact on elderly communities in terms of health outcomes and lockdown restrictions, it was perhaps to be expected that no over-65s thought 2020 was “great.”

Meanwhile in the 25-49 age group, 3 per cent said the year was going brilliantly, while young people in the 18-24 bracket were least likely to say the year was “terrible” (17 per cent).

The survey also split respondents politically; the most positive of any political group were Liberal Democrats, with 40 per cent of those surveyed rating the year as “ok”.

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