A poll conducted by East Tennessee State University is highlighting the concerns of Tennesseans as more businesses reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The more recent Tennessee Poll surveyed 618 Tennesseans from April 22 to May 1 as the state's stay at home orders began to expire and phase one of the reopening plan began.
The vast majority of Tennesseans said they are very closely or closely following news about the coronavirus at 63% and 30%, respectively.
The poll asked participants what their greatest concern was regarding COVID-19, and the majority, 33% of Tennesseans polled, said their greatest concern was either catching the virus or having a loved one catch it.
16% said their greatest concern was the general public health, and 13% said they were most concerned with economic or job losses.
"I worry not only about contracting the illness, but of not being able to survive it. This concerns me so much that my family and I discussed end of life measures and we all agreed as adults to complete living wills,” one respondent said.
The poll said it appears a small-but-vocal minority of Tennesseans protested against perceived government overreach. The poll's findings showed 10% of people believed the federal government went too far in actions to slow the spread of the virus, and 10% believed the same to be true for the state.
45% of all Tennesseans polled said they felt the measures taken by the federal government were appropriate, and 38% believed the government did not go far enough to prevent the spread of the virus.
Most Tennesseans responded favorably to the state's response, with 49% saying they felt the state government's measures have been appropriate.
One question gauged how Tennesseans felt about returning to day-to-day activities if there were no government restrictions. Of the 618 polled, 31% said they would wait until the number of new cases declined significantly. 28% said they would wait until their are no new cases, 22% said they would return to normal immediately, and 13% said they would wait until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed.
ETSU said this is the first of a series of releases in the 2020 Tennessee Poll. You can find additional analysis, methodology, and margin of error calculations for the sample at this link.
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