A new poll suggests Americans overwhelmingly stand behind state-imposed restrictions on businesses and public gatherings to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, with a majority of those who identify as Republicans and Democrats viewing the measures as appropriate.
In a survey of over 1,000 Americans conducted by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland between April 21 and April 26, over three quarters of respondents held that restrictions on business operation and the size of gatherings were either appropriate, or not restrictive enough.
Only about a fifth disagreed and saw them as too restrictive.
More Democrats than Republicans backed the disease control measures, though support mostly reached across the aisle — 72% of respondents who identified as Democrats saw measures as appropriate, versus 62% of Republicans.
With 66% of Independents surveyed in agreement, the findings suggest public support for coronavirus restrictions is holding firm across party lines, and Americans remain cautious, even as some states are moving to relax their stay-at-home orders.
The poll also found broad support for a temporary freeze on nearly all immigration during the outbreak, with two-thirds backing the idea and only one-third voicing opposition. The vast majority of Republicans surveyed — 83% — would be in favor of such an immigration halt, while Democrats were almost evenly split.
President Donald Trump announced a 60-day stop on green card holders moving into the country last week, but made several exceptions, including for temporary workers arriving on nonimmigrant visas.
He said the measure is necessary at a time when unemployment has climbed to levels not seen for decades, but critics dismissed it as thinly veiled move to cut legal immigration.
- Sign up for news alerts from WTOP
- What DC can learn from the 1918 flu epidemic
- DC nurses praise recent guidance on COVID-19 testing for health care workers
- Low-income families in Montgomery Co. to receive financial assistance amid coronavirus
- Bowser says DC ‘not there yet’ on reopening
- Latest coronavirus test results in DC, Maryland and Virginia
- Coronavirus resources: Get and give help in DC, Maryland and Virginia
Public opinion of Trump’s handling of the pandemic also appeared to be split, with 52% of respondents overall grading the way he had dealt with the crisis as “not so good” or “poor,” and with 47% marking him as either “good” or “excellent.”
Yet the stark division between Republican and Democratic support for the president extends to his pandemic response: Nine of out 10 Republicans polled said he was doing a good or excellent job, while less than two in 10 Democrats said the same.
Public support for governors, meanwhile, is swinging in the opposite direction. While support for Trump is split, the survey suggests Americans are far more likely to support their governor’s own handling of the crisis, with 77% of those polled rating their state’s own leader as either good or excellent.
Findings also suggest six in every 10 Americans are still fearful of contracting the virus themselves, even after weeks with tens of millions of Americans living in a de facto quarantine, a figure largely unchanged from a Washington Post poll earlier this month.
On Friday, Gov. Larry Hogan unveiled his vision for a phased reopening once the rate of hospital admissions and new deaths eased. Small shops would unlock their doors first, followed by restaurants and bars, before larger social gatherings and high-capacity bars, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam also put forward a similar blueprint for a phased return to normalcy, but stressed that the state would need to ramp up testing before health officials could be confident that a reopening would not lead to another surge in new cases.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
