Gallup: Americans Aren’t Ready To ‘Reopen’

Americans are cautious and not ready for America to “open up” quite yet, according to an April 14 Gallup Poll.

During the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Frank Luntz was guest speaker at a Virginia delegate breakfast. A long-time pollster and focus group moderator at Fox News, Luntz has developed a rapport with voters.

Today on Twitter Luntz responded to someone who questioned why America remains “closed.”

A closer look at the poll shows these highlights:

  • Four in five still want to wait before resuming normal daily routines
  • Desire to wait growing among men, workers, and city residents
  • Republicans remain more comfortable than others with resuming normalcy

Gallup reports:

When asked how quickly they will return to their normal activities once the government lifts restrictions and businesses and schools start to reopen, the vast majority of Americans say they would wait and see what happens with the spread of the virus (71%) and another 10% would wait indefinitely. Just 20% say they would return to their normal activities immediately.

The vast majority of all key subgroups of Americans, regardless of demographics or economic status, indicate they would wait to see what happens with the virus before resuming normal life. However, there are a few notable differences by subgroup in those willing to get right back to normalcy.

Republicans (31%), residents of small towns/rural areas (23%) and men (22%) are more likely to forecast that they’ll resume their normal activities immediately.

There is no clear pattern by age with both the youngest adults (25% of those 18-29) as well as those of older middle-age (24% of those 50-64) expressing the most comfort with returning to normal immediately once government lifts restrictions. Adults aged 30 to 49 and seniors are more cautious.

Notably, there is no difference in these views by respondents’ household income or whether a person is employed.

Their bottom line assessment:

Few Americans are ready to get back to normal right now, and as the country looks to the future, some segments of society have grown even less comfortable with the idea of resuming normal daily activities and interpersonal contacts.

Meanwhile, no doubt reflecting the health challenges COVID-19 is presenting in places like New York City, Detroit, New Orleans and Los Angeles, a city-country divide may be emerging in Americans’ willingness to resume their normal activities when businesses and schools are allowed to reopen. After expressing similar willingness in March to return to normal immediately, city and rural/small-town Americans’ views now diverge with city residents showing more caution.

We are in a worldwide pandemic. We are barely into this pandemic here in the U.S. but we have Italy and Spain, among others, as examples of what we are facing, and Americans are most likely taking notice of those shut-down countries. Yes — the entire country is shut down, not just individual states or areas.

As signs show that deaths may be starting to slowly level off or decrease in hardest hit New York, Covid-19 is now showing up in greater numbers in rural areas of Virginia. In the Shenandoah Valley, Harrisonburg is the hotspot with over 100 reported cases. Virginia’s number of fatalities from Covid-19 is still ticking upward, with the largest one-day spike in deaths reported yesterday with a 27 percent increase over the previous 24 hours.

Coronavirus task force members Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, both long-time experts who have be on the front line with previous epidemics, consistently caution that it may be 12-18 months (conservative estimate) to develop a vaccine for what they described as a highly contagious virus. There are also warnings of a second wave. With the 1918 Spanish Flu, the deadliest pandemic in history, the second wave of outbreaks was worst than the first, and then there was a third wave that followed in February 1919.

In the midst of all the push to reopen, medical experts continue to warn that more testing is necessary before reopening. Testing kits, however, have been scarce, an ongoing problem since the first outbreaks of the virus.

The old saying, “Err on the side of caution,” comes to mind as restless constituents in some states hold rallies protesting stay-at-home orders, and elected officials push for reopening. We all would like to refind some semblance of normal. However, I don’t think anyone wants a resurgence of outbreaks and deaths that could cause a second round of “closing America” because, when it comes down to the bottom line, no amount of money in the world would ever make up for the loss of a loved one.

Сейчас уже никто не берёт классический кредит, приходя в отделение банка. Это уже в далёком прошлом. Одним из главных достижений прогресса является возможность получать кредиты онлайн, что очень удобно и практично, а также выгодно кредиторам, так как теперь они могут ссудить деньги даже тем, у кого рядом нет филиала их организации, но есть интернет. http://credit-n.ru/zaymyi.html - это один из сайтов, где заёмщики могут заполнить заявку на получение кредита или микрозайма онлайн. Посетите его и оцените удобство взаимодействия с банками и мфо через сеть.