Poll: Only 35% of Americans ‘Comfortable’ Returning to Normal Routine

Only 35 percent of Americans are “somewhat” or “very” comfortable returning to their normal routine in the era of the novel coronavirus, a Morning Consult survey released this week found.

According to the survey, conducted June 30 – July 3, slightly over one-third of Americans feel some sense of comfort in returning to their normal routine.

Only 15 percent said they were “very comfortable,” and 20 percent said “somewhat comfortable.” The majority of those surveyed, 59 percent, indicated they felt some level of discomfort in resuming their normal activities.

Twenty-seven percent said they were “somewhat” uncomfortable, while 32 percent said they were “very” uncomfortable.

Morning Consult observed:

Levels of comfort were ticking up in early June but began to fall as U.S. coronavirus cases began to skyrocket amid the reopening of local economies. At the time of the poll, July 3 marked a new high for positive reported cases, with 57,718 recorded, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 8 set a new high, with more than 64,000 positive cases.

Generationally, Boomers expressed the highest level of discomfort in resuming normal activities (64 percent), followed by Gen X (57 percent), Millennials (56 percent), and Gen Z (54 percent).

The survey was conducted among 1,500 to 2,200 U.S. adults. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent and +/-2 percent, respectively.

The poll comes as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the U.S., prompting some states to roll back their reopening plans as part of the greater effort to slow the spread of the virus.

The U.S. reported 3,106,931 cases and 132,855 related fatalities as of Friday afternoon.