This survey is a part of the Yahoo News/YouGov partnership and was additionally featured in the Yahoo News article, “Most Americans reject anti-lockdown protests”
As America considers the right time to lift economic restrictions designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, a new Yahoo News/YouGov Poll finds that most Americans (71%) are more worried about lifting the restrictions too quickly, rather than too slowly (29%).
A majority of Democrats (87%) and about half of Republicans (51%) agree that the country should only reopen once public-health officials are fully able to test and trace new cases and outbreaks—and most Americans (52%) recognize that the country is not currently conducting enough COVID-19 testing to track future outbreaks of the virus.
This acknowledgment that the country should not immediately reopen comes even after President Donald Trump encouraged a series of small protests in states led by Democratic Governors by tweeting that it was necessary to “LIBERATE” Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. A plurality of US adults (42%) in this poll disagrees with Trump’s tweet.
The protestors have called on governors in some states to immediately end shelter-in-place rules, roll back social distancing measures, and ultimately, reopen their states. But, the data indicates that these groups of protestors are not actually aligned with the majority of Americans. When provided with a list of the protestors’ goals, three in five (60%) Americans—and a plurality of Republicans (47%)—say they oppose the protestors.
Only one in 14 Americans (7%) believes that local communities should reopen immediately. Two in five (40%) believe the areas where they live will be ready to reopen by May 15. A plurality of Americans believes their communities will only be ready around July 1 or later. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans (33% vs 15%) to say that the area where they live will not be ready to reopen until July.
Republicans are three times as likely as Democrats to say that their communities could reopen now (9% vs 3%).
And those living in more densely populated areas, like cities (28%) and suburbs (28%) were particularly likely to say their communities will not be ready to reopen before at least July 1. Even still, a majority of those living in rural communities (53%) say they won’t be ready to reopen until June 1 or later—meaning that more than ever, Americans across the country believe that reopening is still a couple of months away.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Yahoo News/YouGov Poll
Image: Getty
