A majority of people who took State Sen. Will Brownsberger’s poll on Massachusetts’ response to the Coronavirus said they don’t think the state has gone far enough to stop the spread, would be willing to shelter-in-place for a few weeks and believe they are financially secure for a year.
Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston, put up the poll over the weekend, and asked four questions.
“The surprising result of the survey is that willingness to increase social distancing appears, at least in this sample of people engaged in the community, to have only modest relationship to age, zipcode, financial security or current working arrangement,” Brownsberger wrote in his post about the poll results.
The first question, about Massachusetts’ response to COVID-19, found that 54 percent of the 3,259 people who took the poll said the state “did not go far enough,” 42 percent said they state is getting it just right, while 3 percent checked “We have gone too far.” Note that the poll went up before Gov. Baker’s order to close non-essential businesses and the stay-at-home advisory.
How a shelter-in-place order would impact people was the subject of the second question. Fifty-two percent of poll takers said they could handle it for two to four weeks, 42 percent said they could handle it indefinitely, and 6 percent said they would “experience real hardship immediately.”
The impact on people’s work situation was the third question. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said they could work from home or are retired, while 10 percent responded they need to leave home to work and 10 percent said they were unemployed.
The final question polled people’s financial situation. Fifty-seven percent said they feel secure for the next year, 40 percent said they are “OK now but concerned about the next few months,” and 4 percent said they cannot pay bills now.
See Brownsberger’s post about the poll, including detailed results and demographics, by clicking here: https://willbrownsberger.com/how-far-can-we-distance-ourselves/
It’s called social Darwinism. A retired postal carrier’s pension ain’t what it used to be Jaygee! Call me if you need a few bucks. Love ya Grimes.
Brownsberger opens with a lot of analysis of the data, starting with the self-selection problem. It does look like retirees and work-from-home are over-represented. He also posts the comments the poll received. There is a lot of worry for the paycheck to paycheck people, for gig workers, and for renters at risk of eviction.
Best wishes for good health to all.