Polls show that party affiliation plays a role in determining willingness to leave the house right now and get on with life despite the pandemic.
A new Gallup poll shows that, overall, nearly 1 in 5 people (21%) would be willing to return to normal right now in a survey completed between April 20 and 26. That’s up from 13% in a survey completed between April 2 and 6.
An increasing number of Republicans support returning to normal right now, 44% versus 25% from the prior survey. Meanwhile, Democratic support has declined.
“Republicans are now twice as likely as political independents (22%) to say they are ready to return right now. Few Democrats (4%) say they are ready to return to their normal activities right now,” Gallup said.
The Gallup polls were completed before and after Republican President Trump talked about reopening the economy. He said on April 15 that the United States was past the peak of new coronavirus infections and promised to unveil guidelines for reopening the country’s shuttered economy. Those guidelines were released on April 16.
A separate Gallup poll showed that 64% of Republicans view the presidential coronavirus briefings as a major source for gathering information. Only 5% of Democrats feel the same way. The survey was conducted April 14-20, before Trump discussed using disinfectant to rid the coronavirus from the body.
Other polls also show that support for returning to work can be a partisan issue.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour poll conducted between April 21 and 26 found that 51% of Republicans think people should be able to return to work, versus only 13% of Democrats. Overall, 32% think it is a good idea, while 65% deem it a bad idea.
The poll also found that 73% of Republicans think the president is doing a better job at handling the coronavirus pandemic than their governor. A mere 9% of Democrats felt the same way.
When it comes to the pandemic being an issue in deciding how they vote for president, only 7% of Republicans said it would be a “major factor.” That percentage could be low because 74% have already made up their minds.
