Trendency: Americans Are Leaning More Towards Opening Up The Economy
Even as New Coronavirus Cases Rise, American Feelings Have Shifted Away From Early May Leaning Towards Keeping Most of the Economy Closed
a Trendency Research future
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In our Average Allocation, Americans feel that 54 percent of the economy is ready to “open up”, a nearly 10-point shift over the past month when we saw that Americans in early May were leaning towards keeping most of the economy closed.
This shift is significant as oepened states move through the phases to open more of their economies. We are also curious to see if this number continues to trend towards opening - or if it returns as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase.
When we look at the strength of the response, we see just how significant this shift is at the open-up 100 percent extreme.
In May, 3-in-10 Americans thought the economy should at least be mostly open. As we moved into June, it’s now 5-in-10 Americans, with a significant jump (8 percent to 23 percent) of Americans believing that the economy should be 100 percent open. Also of interest is the increase in those who think 100 percent of the economy should be closed
Again, the interesting data will be to see if these trends continue or return to previous levels.
Americans with higher household incomes continue to be a driving force towards opening the economy compared to the lower household incomes. This is curious because, as we’ve documented in previous reports, Americans of higher-income have weathered the financial crisis better than Americans of lesser-income.
Worthy of noting: the increase in “close everything” sentiments occurs at all income levels.
Interestingly, when it comes to “the economy should be 100 percent open,” we see little to no difference among the income groups.
The biggest shift is that among the age groups. Previously, we noted that younger Americans were more in favor of opening the economy, with older Americans (45 and up) far more cautious.
In June, we saw a significant shift among older Americans to open, with 3-in-10 Americans over the age of 45 wanting the economy to open 100 percent.
Younger Americans under the age of 45 have for the most part not changed their views on the percentage of the economy that should be open.
As we look at the breakdown by race, we see White Americans have the highest concentration of those leaning towards a majority of businesses opening up.
At the same time, African Americans lean more towards keeping a midway solution in mind, with 37 percent supporting a 50/50 opening.
Hispanics have the largest concentration of support behind keeping the economy either fully or mostly closed. However, African Americans follow up behind them.
Partisanship has a clear effect on these views, and Republicans are much more likely to lean towards opening up businesses, while Democrats take the opposite view. More Democrats would rather see a fully closed economy than a fully open one, a foil to the feelings of Republicans.
Although, all affiliations have a majority of people wanting some middle ground with around 60 percent of people in all three groups supporting a mostly closed, mostly open, or 50/50 economy.
Again worth noting the increase among all groups for a 100 percent closed economy.
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