With governors and states touting reopening plans as summer approaches, many worry that dropping mask mandates and allowing some semblance of normalcy to resume is still too early in this pandemic. Despite huge increases in vaccinations, overall numbers are still too low to achieve herd immunity. Unsurprisingly, the political blame game has increased over which segments of society are being irresponsible in handling reopening, but the fact of the matter is this: Reopening is a polarized, ideological issue for political elites. The masses, on the other hand, are far less divided; Americans prefer keeping things closed and prioritizing safety over early reopening and spreading the virus.

More specifically, data from a recent national poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times and Reality Check Insights after the November election asked respondents to choose between two alternatives: In a public-health crisis, government officials should give priority to protecting people from illness, even if that means temporarily restricting some people’s freedoms or government officials should give people information about health risks and then let them make their own decisions about how to respond, even if that means more people get sick.

The
responses show that the nation clearly favors restricting freedoms for safety,
with 61 percent of Americans preferring shutdowns to 39 percent being on the
side of keeping the economy open and risking viral spread.

When ideology
is considered, the differences here are predictable and significant. Eighty-six percent of
liberals would shut the economy down and limit freedoms for safety, compared to
a smaller majority moderates and ideological leaners (67 percent). For strong
and weak conservatives, less than a quarter (22 percent) are open to shutting
down for safety, with 78 percent wanting to reopen.

Politics is often dominated by those on the ideological extremes, not those in the middle, and when breaking the data down further, the narrative looks consistent and in favor of closure. When looking at states Trump won in 2020, 58 percent fall into the shut-down column, while 42 percent take the reopening view. In contrast, 63 percent of residents in Biden states opted for shut downs and only 37 percent wanted to keep things open. These numbers are very close, suggesting the masses support the shutdowns, while those in power are playing to their bases.

Going beyond states, if we look to generational
cohorts, shut downs are more widely accepted by younger
Americans compared to older generations, but majorities of each cohort still prefer
shut downs. Fifty-seven percent of Silents and 56 percent of Boomers would
limit rights to protect people from illness. That number grows a bit to 60
percent for Millennials and significantly to 78 percent among Gen Zers. Again,
despite the age differences, majorities of all cohorts support the shutdowns.

Education also
plays no role
here. Sixty percent of those with a college degree or more support closing to
protect the nation side, compared to just 40 percent who prefer reopening. And
62 percent of those without a college degree also prefer to keep things closed
for safety.

Similarly, majorities at all income levels support
closure to promote safety. Fifty-six percent of those earning between $50K and
75K prefer keeping things closed to promote safety, while 59 percent of those
earning $150K or more feel the same way. In fact, those at the lowest end of
the spectrum (earning under 50K per year) — and who are most vulnerable to
closures, as they most likely work hourly jobs — are the most supportive of
closure, at 68 percent.

Finally, religion has seemingly played an outsized
role in the push to reopen, with some churches and groups advocating opening as
fast as possible. Many other religious institutions remain closed to group
worship, and the data reveals that even more religious members of society are
inclined to promote closures. Fifty-five percent of those who attend religious
services a few times a month or more frequently prefer keeping things closed
for safety, while 63 percent of those who attend services only a few times a
year or less feel the same way. Most religious Americans do not want to rush reopening
given safety concerns.

Opening up the nation too soon is risky, slows down economic recovery in the long run, and increases the number of deaths in the country. Substantial numbers of Americans understand this, and the data show majorities support keeping facets of life closed to promote safety. At the same time, the minority of Americans who sit on the ideological extremes and are often setting the political agenda have polarized views here. Suffice it to say, the vaccine rollout is accelerating, and hopefully the pandemic will end soon. But until then, majorities of Americans support restricting liberties to benefit the health and safety of the nation overall.

The post The majority of Americans support COVID-19 safety restrictions appeared first on American Enterprise Institute – AEI.