State Sen. Will Brownsberger surveyed people about the social distancing steps that Massachusetts officials have taken, and found that the vast majority agree with them and expect it to be “a long time” before the situation returns to normal.
Brownsberger — who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston — sent out the following write up about the survey, which was the second he has conducted about the state’s response to COVID-19 (see the first here).
COVID-19 Check-in Survey II
Key Takeaways
- 95% support Massachusetts’ social distancing policies or feel we should go further.
- 96% expect we will take a long time to get back to normal or will have to adapt to a permanent new normal.
Summary of Survey
- A total of 2,662 of people responded to an email and Facebook survey initiated on Saturday, April 25, 2020, with 85% responding on that day.
- As to Massachusetts’ COVID-19 response, only 5% of respondents stated “We have gone too far — the economic impact is not worth it.”
- Public support for social distancing remains strong: 65% felt “The balance is right at this time” and 30% felt “We have not gone far enough — people are still doing unnecessary and unsafe things.”
- As compared to the March survey which was completed mostly before the Governor’s non-essential business closures of March 23, the group feeling “We have not gone far enough” has declined from 54% to 30%, while the group feeling “We have gone too far” has increased slightly from 3% to 5%.
- 9% reported that they were unemployed as a result of the epidemic while 3% reported they were previously unemployed. The newly unemployed were somewhat more likely to feel our response has gone too far (12%) than the respondents as a whole (5%), but 88% of them felt we have the balance right or have not gone far enough.
- The share of respondents currently behind on bills dropped slightly from 3% to 2%. This group was more likely to feel we have gone too far (29%) than the respondents as a whole (5%), but 70% of them felt we have the balance right or have not gone far enough.
- Almost half of respondents (49%) believe that “The virus may change our lifestyles in permanent ways. We may have to adapt to a new normal.” An additional 47% expect that “We will get back to normal eventually after a long period involving at least some retrictions.” Only 3% of respondents expect that “We will get back to normal pretty soon.”
As noted further below and in the discussion of the March survey the survey methods are not designed to be representative. They reflect people who are engaged in the community or in political issues, mostly within my senate district. However, the sample size is large at 2,662 and the results are consistent with recent statewide polling.
See more details about the survey responses by clicking here: https://willbrownsberger.com/covid-19-check-in-survey-ii-results/
Senator Brownsberger’s district is liberal, and the people he sends his emails to are no doubt nearly all Democrats who like him.
Much of his constituency is affluent, professional, or middle-class.
They are less likely to have been hit hard financially by the lockdown.
Hence, his “poll” is certainly skewed.
Even if his poll indicated people want to start ending the lockdown, would this have changed Senator Brownsberger’s opinion? One doubts that.
According to this article, respondents were asked about “social distancing.” That’s easy and very different from a lockdown, which is basically what we have now with very small and “non-esesential” businesses closed.
Would the respondents like more stores and businesses to re-open? Who knows?
How long is the lockdown to last? In my opinion, long enough for Democrats to destroy the economy and elect a Democratic president in November.
If you listen to media such as CNN, the people there are always talking down Hydrochloroquine. They don’t want it to work because Trump is optimistic about it.
They don’t want the economy to reopen though of course none will admit that the reason is political – to help Democrats in November.
I was also wondering: how many civil servants employed by the state and the various municipalities have been laid off? None?
Also, the hospitals are suffering because people often cannot get exams and needed procedures, not to mention the hardship to those people themselves.
I think some more balance is needed by media.
Many towns are making it mandatory wearing face mask to protect themselves & others.This should also be required in Watertown due to the proximity of the homes condo’s & senior housing living here. A fine should be issued for the safety of our resident’s . In some parts of Europe a second offense was a suspended license for 30 days.It is unfortunate that many people are not taking this alarming. It is extremely imperative when being out shopping to be proactive or this disease with troublesome to our community.
I agree that most of his supporters are liberals who think nothing of giving up their rights. We should now let the younger people gradually go back to work and let seniors and people who have compromised immune systems stay home for the sake of the rest and the economy. The younger people fare better with this virus and recover much quicker for the most part. We lost 60,000 people to the flu in 2018 and no one made a big deal of that. Certainly no life should be lost, but death is part of life and we never know when our time is coming from a car accident, regular pneumonia, crimes, etc. The younger people already have huge student loan debts and adding extra debt to them is unacceptable. Let them get on with their lives and if they develop immunities that last, we will all be better off in the fall if another round of this hits.