Senior Sentiment Report February 2021

• Vaccination improves mental health
• Biden transition divides seniors
• Winter Storm impacts Connectedness

Seniorly is proud to introduce our February Senior Sentiment Report. The survey is a monthly snapshot of how seniors in the US are feeling about their well-being and quality of life. The findings of each survey are summarized in a monthly Seniorly Sentiment Score, a combined overall score between 0 and 100, reflecting older adults' answers to questions about connectedness, affordability, and mental health.

The February 2021 Senior Sentiment Score is a combined overall score, reflecting this month’s Senior Connectedness Index, Senior Affordability Index, and Mental Health Index:

The Sentiment Score is a real-time qualitative measure of well-being and quality of life among our seniors, designed to track their responses to events and factors with wide-reaching national impact on a monthly basis. The current Senior Sentiment score is 49 (a slight decrease from 50.1 in January). 

The easing of political tensions and disagreements surrounding the election have contributed to a rising Mental Health Index. In addition, a great vaccination push has relieved some of their worries from the COVID19 pandemic. 80% of seniors over 85 have gotten the vaccine, and 55% of seniors overall have as well.

In parallel, however, seniors are being forced to confront the growing affordability crisis, which shows no signs of abating. The large winter storm that blanketed the USA also disrupted seniors ability to remain connected to their friends and family.  Seniors remain connected politically as well. Over 90% of our 600 respondents had an opinion about the first month of the Biden Presidency. This survey was conducted 2/19/21 to 2/23/21.

The following chart breaks down the January to February change for the Connectedness, Affordability, and Mental Health Index.

Top 3 February 2021 Index Highlights

Vaccination Improves Mental Health

The growing vaccination push in the United States is reaching more and more seniors. According to our survey, the following percentage of seniors have been vaccinated:

Due to this easing of concerns about COVID19, 85% of seniors reported feeling “Mentally Healthy” in February.

However, seniors expressed frustration due to the slow roll out of the vaccination program. Roughly 20% of Seniors, when given the opportunity to express their opinion about vaccination, commented that the program was being rolled out too slowly. 

Despite, roughly 34% of seniors reported that their greatest feeling in the past month was feeling ‘Content’.

Opinions Remain Divided on the Biden Presidency

Over 90% of seniors surveyed expressed a written opinion about the Biden Presidency. Direct quotes ranged from support "It's a relief to have a president we can admire and respect." to detractors "Unfortunately, he is trying to keep his campaign promises to destroy jobs and the economy, and has no magic COVID cure like he said he did." In addition, seniors remain intensely focused on how Biden does with the pandemic and the economy. Over 20% of responses mention the pandemic and over 25% of responses mention the Economy. The most consistent praise mentioned of Biden, roughly 50% of positive responses, was that he represented a ‘calm’ or ‘calming’ influence.

Connectedness Suffers due the Winter Storm

Seniors have found themselves more isolated in the past month, with the Connectedness Index decreasing from 51 to 48. This large decrease is driven primarily to the large winter storm that blanketed the United States for much of the month. 36% of seniors mentioned they would like more support on a monthly basis, slightly up from 35% in the previous month. Nationwide, only 60% of seniors had 5 or more people supporting them on a monthly basis. In talking about their greatest monthly stressor, 10% of seniors mentioned the winter storm, above other options such as their overall health and finances. 

Data Background:

Index Explanation

Take a look at this month's infographic, and if you’re interested in a more in-depth explanation of how we survey and collect data, please contact research@seniorly.com

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