In another of his irrational musings, president Donald Trump on March 25 batted for reopening the U.S. for business by Easter Sunday (April 12) by relaxing its strict social distancing guidelines -- and this was a day before the U.S. became the world's most COVID-19 infected country.
"I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," said Trump during a Fox News virtual town hall.
A new poll from Yahoo News/YouGov conducted from March 25 to 26 not only shows six in 10 Americans disagree with Trump about this, but 49% disapprove of the way Trump is handing the COVID-19 crisis. As of Sunday, 07:02 GMT, the U.S. accounted for 19% of the world's total cases of 664,621 and 7% of total world deaths (30,892), according to real-time data website, Worldometer. The U.S. had only 67 COVID-19 cases and one death on February 29.
The new poll found 59% of Americans think Easter is much too soon to "open the country up for business," as Trump wants and still intends to do. Only 20% said Easter is "about right" for businesses to reopen.
Eight in 10 Americans (79%) agree with U.S. public health experts that say social distancing restrictions are the "only way" to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Six in 10 (58%) believe ignoring the coronavirus and returning to normal life will lead to "many deaths." On the other hand, 32% predict only "a few" will die.
Answering the question if they approve or disapprove of the way Trump has handled the coronavirus overall, 49% said they disapproved while 43 said they approved. A huge 60% said the Trump administration isn't adequately prepared to deal with the pandemic, while only 25% held the opposite view. YouGov analysts said this new result is a net 14-point shift against Trump since the last Yahoo News/YouGov poll two weeks ago.
On the other hand, 60% of respondents rated their state and local governments' handling of the crisis as either excellent or good.
The poll confirms Americans are now much more worried about the coronavirus compared to two weeks ago. In this previous poll, only 37% paid "very close" attention to the coronavirus. This number now stands at 50%. In the past poll, 29% said there had been coronavirus cases in their community. This number now stands at 60%, indicating the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the country.
Americans have also become more fearful they'll fall victim to COVID-19. The poll shows 40% of Americans now believe it's either somewhat or very likely they'll become compared to the previous 25%. Two weeks ago, 44% said the threat of the coronavirus was exaggerated. That number today stands only at 22% while a 62% now say the threat isn't exaggerated as Trump and the Republicans contend.
The poll also confirmed the suffering COVID-19 is inflicting on ordinary Americans. It shows 10% of respondents admitting they've their jobs because of the coronavirus. The poll revealed 15% said a family member had lost their job. Another 18% said their hours and income have been reduced.
Meanwhile, 32% said they'd lost money in the stock market or their retirement funds. Also, 57% of respondents now say the economy is getting worse -- up 20 points since the previous survey two weeks ago.
