Poll finds Americans are growing more optimistic that 'the worst is over' in the pandemic

With COVID-19 vaccines continuing to roll out around the United States, Americans are growing more optimistic that the worst of the pandemic may have passed, according to a new poll.

In a survey released Wednesday by Navigator Research, a Democratic firm, 39 percent of respondents said they believe the worst is yet to come in the pandemic, the lowest percentage since the study began in April 2020. Just last month, 58 percent of respondents said they believed the worst was yet to come in the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 37 percent of respondents said they believe the worst is over in the pandemic, which is up 12 percentage points from Jan. 11, while another 24 percent weren't sure. In general, 52 percent of respondents in the survey said they believe the country is "off on the wrong track." While that's still a majority, it's down from 76 percent who said as much in January.

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These findings comes as America's COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues and as the country's number of daily coronavirus cases declines, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the U.S. is still "nowhere out of the woods," while Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday urged Americans not to "get complacent," especially keeping in mind "the challenge" posed by coronavirus variants.

Navigator Research's latest survey was conducted by speaking to approximately 1,000 registered voters online from Feb. 11-15. No margin of error was indicated. Read the full results here.