Washington, Jan 19 (AP) Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Overall, 53 per cent of Americans name COVID-19 as one of the top five issues they want the government to tackle this year, and 68 per cent mention in some way the economy, which is still reeling from the outbreak.

In an open-ended question, those priorities far outpace others, like foreign affairs, immigration, climate change or racial inequality.

The findings suggest Biden's political fate is riding on his administration's response to the pandemic.

“I just want to be through it,” said Kennard Taylor, a 20-year-old Detroit college student who had to move back home when the pandemic shuttered his campus and who lost his grandfather to the disease.

“There are other things, but I'd say right now this is the priority for me.”

The Democratic president-elect last week unveiled a proposed USD 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package and has vowed to provide 100 million vaccination shots in his first 100 days, an ambitious goal that his health team is already scrambling to meet.

The poll was taken in December, before a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to halt the certification of Biden's election on January 6, leading the U.S. House to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time.

It also pre-dates the record number of coronavirus deaths this month, which has seen more than 4,000 die of the disease in several 24-hour periods, and a slow and bumpy start to vaccine distribution.

In a reflection of the series of national traumas from last year, another issue moved sharply up Americans' priority list for 2021 — racial inequality.

After a year in which the country was convulsed by the May killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer and the ensuing Black Lives Matters demonstrations, 24 per cent cited race relations as a priority. In contrast, only 10per cent cited it in late 2019 as a priority for 2020.

Forty-three percent of Black Americans mention racism and racial inequality as a priority for 2021, compared with 22per cent of white Americans and 21 per cent of Hispanics.

Still, even that issue takes a backseat to COVID-19 among some. “There's no point reforming police and racism if we're all dead,” said Aaron Williams, a 34-year-old African-American construction worker in Rosenberg, Texas.

“Nothing is going to pick up or change unless we get rid of the virus first,” said Williams, who lost his job last year after the virus reached the country and has been making do with temporary work.

Democrats like Williams were more likely to cite the coronavirus as an issue than Republicans like Clinton Adams, a school custodian in Florida. Even so, the impact of the virus dominates Adams' top issue: the economy.

“People need to get back to work,” said Adams, 39, who hopes the vaccine will push governors who've shut down some businesses to ease restrictions.

“They just need to open it up.”

The economy was named in some way by 68 per cent of Americans, an uptick from 59 per cent who named it a top problem the year before. And more specifically mentioned unemployment and jobs as a focus for 2021 than said so for 2020, 26 per cent vs. 15 per cent.

The poll also finds about 4 in 10 Americans mention health care separate from COVID-19. About a third mentioned foreign policy issues, and roughly as many named politics as a top problem to address this year.

A new priority is voting laws, with 14 per cent of Republicans naming them as an issue after months of Trump falsely claiming that voter fraud led to Biden's victory in the election.

Only 1 per cent of Republicans cited the issue as a priority for 2020.

There was no widespread fraud in the November election. This has been confirmed by election officials across the country, as well as by Trump's former Attorney General William Barr. And nearly all of the legal challenges put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed by judges.

Immigration, the issue that helped put Trump in the White House in 2016, dropped from 35 per cent last year among all Americans to 18 per cent now.

It remains a higher priority for Republicans, with 24 per cent mentioning immigration, though that is down from 51 per cent one year ago.

Michael Henry, an actuary in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and chair of the local Young Democrats group, wants an overhaul of the immigration system to happen, especially after watching the grandfather of a friend die before he could get his citizenship, for which he'd already been waiting 30 years.

But, like many, Henry knows what has to happen first — the taming of the virus. “I swing between optimism and pessimism” on issues like immigration that require congressional action, Henry said. But he's optimistic the Biden administration can contain the virus.

“There's a lot that can be done by competent bureaucrats in the federal government,” Henry said.

A majority of Americans, 55 per cent, said they expect the year ahead to be better than 2020 for them personally — more optimism than one and two years ago.

A similar share, 54 per cent, said they expect the year ahead to be better for the country as a whole. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)