Economy, unlike 2020, is in first place of the concerns of 68% of respondents, who strongly believed that it should be among main lines of work for the US government, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Consumer prices jumped 6.8% for the 12 months ending in November, a nearly four-decade high.

On the other hand, just 37% of US people named the virus as one of their top five priorities for the government to work on in 2022, compared with 53% who said it was a leading priority at the same time a year ago.

According to the research, that sentiment reflected the challenge for Democrats at the onset of the election year. The party won the White House and control of Congress in 2020 with pledges to manage the pandemic more competently than the Trump administration.

Many respondents in the survey said they are not suggesting the country ignore the pandemic. But compared with last year, higher percentages of people called out other issues, including immigration among GOPers and gun control among Democrats, as pressing in 2022.

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