Americans Doubt Death Tolls, Oppose Opening
John Locher / AP
We ran the numbers: There are 2017 news articles covering this topic. 31% (623) are left leaning, 45% (915) center, 24% (479) right leaning.
According to new polls, most Americans oppose reopening businesses and believe that the number of coronavirus deaths is higher than reported. While left-leaning articles highlight that most Americans say they would feel uncomfortable shopping at a retail store or eating at a restaurant, right-leaning articles highlight that Republicans believe deaths are being over counted, while Democrats believe they are being undercounted.
The Washington Post published a left-leaning article highlighting that according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, 67 percent of Americans say they would be uncomfortable shopping at a retail clothing store, while 78 percent say they would be uncomfortable eating at a sit-down restaurant. While governors have emphasized that their plans to ease restrictions on businesses represent a gradual and cautious reopening, the majority of Americans say they oppose ending restrictions on businesses including dine-in restaurants, gun stores, and retail establishments.
A centrist article by The Hill reports that according to an Axios-Ipsos poll, 63 percent of Democrats said the number of coronavirus deaths is higher than reported, while 24 percent of Republicans agreed. The poll also found that trust in state governments that have started rolling back restrictions has dropped from 67 percent in late March.
A right-leaning article by The Daily Caller highlights that according to the Axios-Ipsos poll, 40% of Republicans believed that deaths are being over counted, compared to 24% who believe they are being undercounted. The article notes that the method the U.S. and certain states have used to count deaths has been a subject of intense debate in recent weeks after White House Dr. Deborah Birx said last month that the U.S. was being “very liberal” in the way it was counting deaths.