Poll: Americans more worried about their health than economy
Americans see the coronavirus pandemic primarily as a health crisis rather than a financial one, but the government' s role in fixing economic fallout is an increasingly political issue, a new poll has found.
The Public Agenda/ USA TODAY/Ipsos poll released Friday found Americans see the crisis as a bigger threat to their physical health than to t heir mental health or financial well-being.
Most oft hoses urv eyed support as low easing of social distancing restrictions aimed at saving lives and slowing the virus' spread like Eva Coffee who lives in Booneville, Arkansas. She said many people in her family including her 90-year-old mother have pre-existing conditions and she worries they won't survive if they get COVID-19.
“It's a lot more important to protect people's health,” said Coffee, 63, who is an Independent. “If there' s not people then the economy' s going to die anyway.”
Still, disagreement over the governments' priorities has grown since a survey in late March.
There' s a growing number of Americans who believe economic recovery should be the government's top priority – a shift primarily led by Republicans.
“They should prioritize the economy because if they don' t there will be no country ,” said Long Island resident Joe Patatino, 79, who identifies as politically conservative.
The poll, conducted May 22-26 on behalf of Public Agenda and USA TODAY, surveyed about 1,000 U.S. adults as a part of the Hidden Common Ground initiative, which aims to examine issues that divide America and potential solutions. The online poll has a credibility interval, akin to a margin of error, of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Here are four key takeaways from the survey:
Growing number of Republicans say economy should be top priority
Most Americans (62%) believe the government's priority should be preventing the virus from spreading, but that number has dropped 10 percentage points from a March survey. The share of Republicans who said the government should prioritize keeping the virus from spreading fell dramatically from 64% in March to 41% in May, while the number of Democrats remained stable.
A majority of Americans believe t he corona virus is a threat to the global economy and to the United States, although the perceived threat to the stock market has decreased. Most Americans (77%) agreed that the nation should reboot the economy “slowly and carefully to avoid spreading the virus.”
Brian Sparks of Clio, Michigan, said he is unhappy with the restrictions set by Gov. Gretchen W hit mer and believes they hurt the economy and local businesses.
W hit mer relaxed some restrictions of the sweeping stay-at-home order that has been in place since March, but she extended the order to June 12 and her state of emergency declaration to June 19.
Social gatherings of 10 people or less are now allowed, and retail businesses that sell goods can reopen for appointment-only shopping.
“I just feel the economy in general is weak and that it needs to be stimulated,” said Sparks, who works in retail.