About half of Americans in Gallup’s latest polling on the COVID-19 pandemic, 49%, say they would be very likely to stay home for a month if public health officials recommended it due to a serious outbreak of the virus in their community. This contrasts with solid majorities in the spring who said they were likely to comply with such shelter-in-place advice, including a high of 67% in late March/early April.
Another 18% of Americans say they would be somewhat likely to follow public health officials’ advice to stay home for a month, bringing the total inclined to comply to the majority level. But a full third say they would be very or somewhat unlikely to comply, about double the rate seen in the spring.
Most of the decline in Americans’ willingness to follow shelter-in-place advice is due to a sharp drop among Republicans — falling to 40% in Gallup’s latest polling, from 74% in the spring. Democrats’ willingness to stay at home has remained high, at 87% today versus 91% in March and April.
