Most Americans wouldn’t return to ‘normal’ life even if orders were lifted, poll shows
Even if states lifted “stay at home” orders tomorrow, most people in the United States won’t go back to their normal routines right away, according to a new Gallup poll.
About 70% of Americans would “wait to see what happens” after restrictions are lifted before returning to normal life and 10% said they would “limit contact/activities indefinitely,” according to the poll released Tuesday. Twenty percent said they would return to their normal activities immediately.
“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,” Gallup said.
The poll was released as governors begin discussing how to lift stay-at-home orders around the country.
In an interview on CNN Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “It is not going to be a light switch that we say, OK, it is now June, July or whatever, click, the light switch goes back on.
“It’s going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak that you have already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced,” Fauci said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
President Donald Trump has been clashing with governors over who can lift the “stay at home” orders, but governors for states like New York and California insist that they issued the orders and it’s up to them to lift them.
No matter when the orders to stay home are eased, most Americans are not ready to get back to their normal routines.
A separate HuffPost/YouGov poll released earlier this month had similar findings, with 70% saying, “I would still try to stay home as much as possible” if coronavirus restrictions were lifted mid-April.
In the Gallup poll, “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.”
The most likely groups to return to normal activities are “Republicans (31%), residents of small towns/rural areas (23%) and men (22%).”
Gallup did not find a pattern by age for people willing to return to their pre-pandemic routines. About 25% of young adults, 18 to 29, and 24% of middle-aged Americans, 50 to 64, were the most comfortable returning to normal activities.
“Adults aged 30 to 49 and seniors are more cautious,” Gallup said. “Notably, there is no difference in these views by respondents’ household income or whether a person is employed.”
The results of the poll, conducted April 3-5, mirror those from a similar poll in late March. The poll has a margin of error of 3%.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Most Americans wouldn’t return to ‘normal’ life even if orders were lifted, poll shows."
