Poll: Here's What People Will Do When Restrictions Relax

Coronavirus continues to have a detrimental impact on the U.S. economy. Unemployment is the highest it’s been since the Great Depression. Consumer confidence has plummeted in all 50 states.

But the pandemic has also had a crippling effect on our mental health, with many of us isolated indoors without the ability to see or touch our family and friends.

That sentiment is reflected in recent Morning Consult polling.

When prompted with the question, “What is the first thing you will do when stay-at-home orders are lifted and the economy in your state is fully opened?” and given the opportunity to provide any response, roughly 1 in 5 U.S. adults (22 percent) wrote about visiting family, spending time with friends and hugging loved ones.

Being close to those we care about was the No. 1 response mentioned in the May 5-8 survey.

As of May 13, 26 states and the District of Columbia are under stay-at-home orders, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis; 15 of those states have begun easing back social distancing measures.

The survey answers underline research that links social isolation and loneliness to both poor mental and physical health. Forty-four percent of respondents in an April 29-30 survey said their day-to-day life has gotten worse amid the pandemic, and 33 percent said the same of their mental health.

The poll bears good news for restaurants: The public is hungry to eat out again. Nineteen percent of U.S. adults wrote something about dining out or saddling up at their local watering hole to drink the past few months away.

It’d be a welcome infusion of cash for the struggling industry. Restaurants’ year-over-year revenue was down 68 percent in late March, its lowest point in 2020, according to data from marketing and CRM software company Womply, but it is slowly ticking up as some states relax restrictions. Year-over-year revenue for bars slipped by 94 percent in mid-April.