US efforts on pandemic, economy getting better, but not good: poll

NEW YORK - Most Americans thought US economy and the fight against COVID-19 improved to some extent in recent weeks, but still not good, while a majority of people were still concerned about the pandemic, according to a new poll released on Sunday.

As coronavirus cases came down in many places in the United States, more Americans said efforts against the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic "are going well," but it was still a mixed report, showed the poll conducted by CBS News/YouGov between Feb 8 and 11.

Around 47 percent said "things are going well," up from 36 percent a few weeks ago. Fewer people reported than a year ago that their own mental health "is worse" as a result of the pandemic, it found.

People rated things in the country better than they did in January, but they did not call them good, the poll said, noting Americans expressed roughly the same mix of being hopeful and scared about the year ahead as they did a year ago.

Nearly half of parents reported feeling exhausted or frustrated by managing the pandemic and kids, saying their children's mental health and educational development got worse as a result of the pandemic, according to the result of the poll.

About the economy, it found that the general measure of how things were going in the United States was up seven points in a month, but still net negative.

President Joe Biden's approval rating remained at 44 percent in February, unchanged from last month, the poll showed, believing that it reflected this mixture of measures and sentiments in the country.