Florida was one of the last major states to implement stay-at-home orders, and now, as the country eyes reopening, most voters there say social distancing restrictions shouldn’t be eased quite yet.
A Quinnipiac poll conducted from April 16 to Monday found that 72% of Florida voters do not think that social distancing guidelines should be loosened by the end of April, while 22% said they think the policies should be lessened. 55% of Republicans said the restrictions should remain compared to 90% of Democrats.
Even more Floridians, 76% surveyed, said they believe the state’s economy should only be opened back up once public health officials determine it is safe to do so, compared to 17% who said the economy should be reopened regardless of guidance from experts.
“The state’s stay-at-home order is scheduled to expire at the end of the month of April, but nearly three-quarters of Floridians are not ready to drop their guard,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.
50% of those surveyed said they approved of how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is handling the health crisis, although 61% said they think DeSantis could have responded sooner as the illness took hold in the Sunshine State. A slight majority, 52% surveyed, said they disagreed with DeSantis’s exemption of religious services as part of Florida’s stay-at-home plan.
Florida has had more than 27,800 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 866 deaths since the pandemic began, according to a tally by the New York Times.
The poll, which had a sample size of 1,385 self-identified voters, has a 2.6% margin of error.
