Americans go out more often for shopping, work, despite coronavirus concerns, poll shows
The latest tracking poll from Kaiser Family Foundation shows that, despite the risk of exposure to COVID-19, Americans are leaving their homes more often to shop, visit family or go to work than they did in April, and their decisions on doing so continue to reflect partisan differences.
While 46 percent of Republicans said they had gone out to dine at a restaurant in the prior week, only 21 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independents said they had done so. The foundation said pollsters spoke with 1,296 adults by phone from June 8-14.
In April, about four out of 10 polled respondents said they had gone outside the home the prior week to shop for food, medicine or essentials, but by earlier this month, nine out of 10 had done so. Six out of 10 in June had gone out multiple times for these purposes.
Were they worried they might have been exposed to the new coronavirus, the pathogen that causes COVID-19, while out and about? In the case of Democrats, 62 percent were very or somewhat worried they could have encountered someone with it while out shopping or in a workplace.
And, 38 percent of them thought they could be infected while visiting family or friends. So few of the polled Dems dined out at restaurants that the pollsters said the data was insufficient to estimate their concerns about exposure there.
Only 28 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independents expressed concern about exposure at a restaurant but independents expressed greater concern than Republicans about exposure while shopping — 49 percent vs. 29 percent — or working at the office — 42 percent vs. 32 percent.
Only 13 percent of Republicans expressed concern about exposure while visiting a relative or close friend, while 20 percent of independents did so. The margin of error on the polling data is 3 percent.
About half of all respondents said they or a family member had skipped getting some type of medical or dental care in the past three months.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 3:18 PM.
