Most Shoppers Say They Would Continue Quarantining

At a time when select areas of the country are experimenting with varying stages of letting businesses reopen, a new poll suggests that many brands are facing a challenge they may not have considered before: Even if a region reopens for business, will shoppers accustomed to living life locked down be willing to come out and shop? A new poll suggests that answer is, for now, no. According to a survey released Friday by research firm Ipsos, 64% of Americans say that reopening the country right now is “not worth it” because more lives are likely to be lost owing to increased transmission of Covid-19. The respondents who feel that way skew heavily Democratic (92%) and are majority non-white (84%) and female (72%.) But most distressing for businesses is the finding that even if the country were to somehow miraculously open its doors for business tomorrow, a large swath of consumers would not visit stores. Questioned about the likelihood of engaging in various activities outside their homes if social distancing mandates were relaxed, Americans expressed a willingness to return to the office by a margin of 77%. Yet only 24% said they’d chance going to a movie theater, and only 30% would stay at a hotel. Consumers seemed to warm up a little more toward other types of commerce, however, even if the idea didn’t make them enthusiastic. Forty-four percent reported that they would eat out at a restaurant, and a little more than half (51%) said they’d get a haircut. Interestingly, these averaged figures do not reflect the sharp partisan divide among the respondents, but when breaking it down further, there does appear to be a gap in preferences. For example, only 26% of those who identify as Democrats said they would eat at a restaurant, but 64% of Republicans said they would. And while 40% of Democrats would venture out to a hair salon for a much-needed trim, 74% of Republicans would gladly do it. The results of the Ipsos poll, conducted on behalf of ABC News, also suggest that even though shelter-in-place mandates have succeeded in stalling the spread of the novel coronavirus in many parts of the country, Americans have been wary about resuming normal activities for a while now. A Gallup poll released on April 1, for example, found that only 14% of Americans felt ready to resume normal day-to-day activities, with 42% indicating they’d rather wait until the number of new Covid-19 cases “declines significantly” before they’d be OK with getting back to their routines. More recently, a Pew Center poll released on April 16 found that 66% of Americans feared that their state governments will lift restrictions too quickly, and 73% believed that, when it came to the Covid-19 infection rate, the “worst is still to come.”

Life in Quarantine

Even If America Reopened Tomorrow, Most Shoppers Say They Would Stay Home

Polled consumers share hesitations on returning to their everyday routines

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara