Americans Worried About Opening Up Too Quickly

As more and more states move towards reopening their economies, health experts are warning that lifting restrictions too soon could have dire consequences. “There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” the U.S. government’s top expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a Senate hearing last week, pointing out that a widely feared second wave of infections would also be detrimental to economic recovery.

Apparently, parts of the American public share such concerns as a recent Morning Consult poll revealed. 51 percent of the 2,000 registered voters polled between May 8 and 10 said that businesses and public spaces across the nation are opening too quickly, while only 15 percent think that the nation isn’t reopening fast enough. Interestingly, people are less worried about their own surroundings than they are about the nation as a whole, as only 37 percent of respondents said their own state was lifting restrictions too quickly while another 37 percent approved of their state’s approach to reopening.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a steep partisan divide with respect to reopening the economy. While 68 percent of Democrats think the nation is moving too quickly, only 31 percent of Republicans agree with that notion.