President Donald Trump's change of mind on when to reopen the country and loosen guidelines on social distancing were affected in part by a Newsmax article by pollsters John and Jim McLaughlin showing that public sentiment had changed on the subject.
The New York Times on Monday reported that the McLaughlins' article, along with other polls indicating similar numbers, helped sway the president from his previous hopes of having people in church pews on Easter Sunday, April 12. New guideliines now extend through April 30.
The Times reported: “In a piece on Newsmax, the conservative website run by a friend of the president’s, that appeared the day before Mr. Trump’s reversal, the McLaughlins wrote that the sentiment for a national shutdown prevailed in every region of the country and even among those who said they could not afford to be out of work for a month or less.”
Trump also was affected by reports from health officials that hundreds of thousands of Americans could die if Americans returned to work earlier. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, predicted that number could be cut to only 100,000 to 200,000 with the new guidelines.
According the the McLaughlin survey, 52% of Americans prefer a full national shutdown with only essential workers staying on the job over 38% who favored universal testing with those infected being isolated. The poll showed that the sentiment rang true in every region of the country and among those who couldn't afford to be without work a month or less.
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