Explore our latest survey: COVID-19 views by age

Explore our new COVID-19 survey results below, where answers of Long Islanders were broken down by the age groups of 18-34, 35-49, 50-64 and 65+ and analyzed.

One takeaway is that while the overall sentiment of the various age groups is similar, the intensity or conviction differs a fair bit.

For example, even though every age group thinks a vibrant downtown is important to Long Island’s quality of life (95% – 97%), 77% of respondents ages 50 to 64 think it is “Very important” while a meaningfully smaller 62% of respondents ages 18 to 34 think it is “Very important.”

Additionally, the survey found that the 18 to 34 age group has an average-or-higher desire to increase their downtown activities in the post-pandemic world and they overwhelmingly attribute this to changed habits.

On vaccines –

• 90% of respondents 65 and older say they plan on getting the vaccine.
• 32% of respondents 35 to 49 say they won’t — the highest percentage compared to other age groups.

(If not vaccinated) Do you plan to get vaccinated for the Coronavirus, or not?

On downtowns –

• 91% of respondents 65 and older said they frequent downtown areas less, compared to 81% – 87% for other age groups.
• 96% of respondents 65 and older said business in downtowns is down overall, compared to 81% – 93% for other age groups.
• To make downtowns more appealing, every age group most wanted more convenient parking added, except respondents age 18 to 34 who most wanted downtowns to be “more pleasingly landscaped with additional green space and water features.”

Now during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, do you go to downtown areas more, about the same as you did or less than you did before the pandemic?

Regardless of how much you currently visit local downtown areas, if you had to guess based on your experience and what you´ve heard, would you say that business being conducted in Long Island´s downtowns is:

On economy/development –

• 91% of respondents 65 and older feel positively about Long Island’s quality of life, compared to 79% of respondents 18 to 34
• 13% of respondents 18 to 34 feel not very or not at all concerned about local businesses remaining in business until the pandemic is under control, compared to 2% – 5% for other age groups
• Respondents 65 and older most likely to be in favor of devoting more real estate for downtown housing at 40%, compared to other age groups ranging between 30% – 33%. Outside of downtowns, all age groups strongly support converting empty retail space into housing.
• About one out of three across all age groups, and even more in the 65+ group, would refuse to take a job if it required full-time work at a location outside of home.

How concerned are you that local businesses will be able to successfully remain in business until the pandemic is fully under control, are you:

Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, would you have described the quality of life for residents on Long Island as:

Are you in favor of or opposed to devoting more real estate to housing units in downtown areas?

Outside of local downtown areas across Long Island there are vacant commercial buildings that used to house major retailers. Do you support or oppose redeveloping these empty malls or strip centers into mixed use developments of both retail and residential?

(If not retired) At this time, would you refuse to take a job or leave a job if you were required to work 100% of the time at a location outside of your home?