Republicans and Democrats’ Disagreement about Closing Restaurants Extends beyond COVID-19 and Social Distancing
Even amidst rising numbers of new COVID-19 cases, some states continue to relax measures designed to curb the pandemic. In the latest such move, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that bars and restaurants in his state are now allowed to operate at full capacity, despite the concerns of public health officials.
Opinions about imposing and removing Coronavirus precautions have varied, particularly by partisanship. Republicans have been far more opposed to keeping businesses like restaurants closed—perhaps due to worrying less about the likelihood of infection and the associated health risks—and Democrats are much more likely to say that masks should always be worn in public. But is this type of partisan disagreement on public safety unique to COVID?
Our recent Reality Check Insights State of America Survey asked over 3,500 respondents what they thought about public health mandates. We randomly selected half of our respondents to respond to the following statement: “Restaurants that do not follow guidelines for maintaining safe social distancing should be fined or closed down.” 87% of Democrats strongly or somewhat agreed with this statement, compared to only 54% of Republicans. In other words, our results mirror the conclusions of previous surveys about partisan disagreement on COVID-19 precautions.
However, the other half of our sample responded to a different statement. Rather than asking about closing restaurants due to COVID, we asked these respondents whether restaurants should be fined or closed for failing to prepare safe food. The results are remarkably similar to attitudes related to social distancing in food establishments. 87% of Democrats again agreed with this practice, while only 46% of Republicans were in favor of it.
Our survey suggests that partisan debate over how to handle the risk of Coronavirus may reflect broader divisions about the role of government in public safety. Or, perhaps widespread disputes about when to reopen restaurants as the country tracks its COVID cases have influenced other opinions about related measures. Reality Check Insights will continue to track attitudes about these issues throughout the pandemic.
Response options included “Strongly disagree,” “Somewhat disagree”, “Neither disagree nor agree,” “Somewhat agree,” and “Strongly agree.” For additional methodological details, including survey dates and weighting procedures, please visit the State of America Survey page.