Don’t end lockdown too soon: US poll

Americans are worried about lifting stay-at-home orders too quickly during the coronavirus pandemic.

Streets remained empty in Washington. Picture: Getty Images

Americans are worried about lifting stay-at-home orders too quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, which has up-ended life in a month marked by business shutdowns, job losses and illness, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Nearly six in 10 in the survey said they were concerned that the country would move too fast to loosen restrictions aimed at slowing the outbreak, compared with about three in 10 who said the greater worry was the economic impact of waiting too long.

Views on when to reopen split along partisan lines, with 77 per cent of Democrats expressing concern about opening too quickly, compared with 39 per cent of Republicans. By contrast, 48 per cent of Republicans are worried the US will take too long, compared with 19 per cent of Democrats. President Donald Trump has expressed an eagerness to lift restrictions as soon as possible, though he also has laid out public health guidelines for governors to follow as they decide when to lift constraints.

The survey of 900 registered voters also revealed more anxiety over the virus, compared with a similar poll in March.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they were very or somewhat worried about themselves or a family member catching the virus, up from about half in March. And 40 per cent said they personally knew someone who had been infected.

How would you rate the state of the economy?

A total of 76 per cent of respondents ranked the economy as fair or poor, compared with about half in March. Only 22 per cent in the new survey described the economy as in good shape.

Meanwhile, more than three-quarters said the outbreak had changed their lives in major ways, including not being able to see family or friends and feeling anxious about grocery shopping. In March, a quarter said there had been major changes to their lives.

“Simply put: we are in it now,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted the survey with Republican Bill McInturff. “The coronavirus has hit America like a series of tornadoes that won’t go away.”

For Mr Trump, the poll indicated the pandemic hasn’t significantly altered his job-approval rating as he campaigns for re-election. His rating was unchanged from March, with 46 per cent approving and 51 per cent disapproving. In a head-to-head match-up with Joe Biden, 49 per cent said they would support the presumptive Democratic nominee and 42 per cent said they would support Mr Trump, little changed from Mr Biden’s 9-point lead in March.

Also, just 36 per cent said they trust what the president says about coronavirus, while 52 per cent don’t. In contrast, 66 per cent said they trust their governor and 60 per cent said they trust National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr Anthony Fauci.

“President Trump faces some tough sledding ahead,” said Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster who worked on the survey. He said the results suggested that Mr Trump was vulnerable to being blamed by the public if the situation deteriorated.

About six in 10 voters in the survey approved of the federal government taking an expanded role in the economy, which has included providing trillions of dollars in stimulus. At the same time, 48 per cent expressed concern that the US was spending too much and would drive up the deficit, while 40 per cent said the bigger concern was that the government would spend too little and prolong the economic downturn.

Republicans were particularly concerned about spending, with 60 per cent worried that the government would spend too much, compared with 29 per cent who worried about too little spending. Among Democrats, those shares were essentially reversed.

Also, more than six in 10 said they weren’t satisfied with the federal government’s efforts to provide medical equipment to healthcare workers or ensure sufficient testing to determine how far the virus has spread.

While concerns about the virus were on the rise, most voters in the survey didn’t see the pandemic as more significant than other major historical events, such as the September 11 terrorist attacks or the attack on Pearl Harbor. Some 47 per cent said the global virus outbreak was very important but not more significant than those events, while 38 per cent said it was the most significant. Others said it was somewhat or not important.