Poll: Pandemic may be thawing ‘Seattle Freeze’ (sort of)
Aug 20, 2020, 5:18 AM | Updated: 5:18 am
Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (Emmett Anderson, Flickr Creative Commons)
A new poll indicates that the “Seattle Freeze” may be thawing, with the region’s residents becoming friendlier to their neighbors since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The poll comes courtesy of PEMCO, finding that 88% of Seattle-area residents say they have “more great neighbors than bad,” up from 69% in 2015.
“It’s encouraging to see so many Northwesterners embracing the people who live in our communities,” PEMCO Insurance Spokesperson Derek Wing said in a news release.
That being so, Seattle residents’ improving moods toward their neighbors have still kept them at arm’s length socially, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic.
“True to Seattle form, our poll found that residents here don’t think that being a good neighbor necessarily means spending time socializing or hosting a dinner,” Wing noted.
A majority of those polled said that “respecting others’ rights” and “being reasonable” were chief among their considerations in terms of neighborly behavior. Just 5% of respondents prioritized traits like “extending invitations for visits” and “taking interest in your family.”
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Roughly a third of the respondents said the most important quality of a good neighbor was someone who follows social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.
“We’re glad to see that people here are taking our collective responsibility seriously when it comes to keeping each other safe,” Wing said.
PEMCO also regularly publishes a “Great Neighbor Index,” which takes into account all the factors listed in its poll. In 2020, Seattle’s number on that scale was 40, up from 27 in 2015.
