Poll: Majority support new two-week national stay-at-home order

A majority of U.S. adults supports a mandatory two-week shelter-at-home order nationwide to slow the spread of coronavirus, a new poll finds. 

The NPR-Ipsos survey finds that 59 percent of respondents would back a national stay-at-home order, indicating that many Americans are willing to embrace drastic steps to help get the virus under control. Thirty-six percent would oppose such an order.

Fifty-five percent would support a ban on all travel between states, according to the poll, with 39 percent opposed.

Hundreds of public health experts have signed an open letter calling for a new nationwide shutdown, writing, “Shut it down now, and start over.”

Other experts say a full nationwide shelter-at-home order is unnecessary, given that some states, particularly those in the Northeast, are doing better in their efforts to fight COVID-19, and some outdoor activities, like going to a park, are relatively safe.

But a wide range of health advocates are calling for at least steps such as closing bars and indoor dining in hard-hit states, which many governors have still declined to do. 

President Trump has made clear that he does not want to go back into stay-at-home mode.

“A blanket shutdown to achieve a temporary reduction in cases is certainly not a viable long-term strategy for any country,” Trump said last week. 

Administration health experts have called for closing bars in hard-hit states, though that message has not been emphasized by Trump himself. 

The poll released Tuesday also finds that 59 percent of U.S. adults surveyed support their state “temporarily closing down all restaurants and nonessential businesses.”

Statewide mask mandates polled even higher, at 76 percent support. 

More broadly, just 25 percent of respondents said the United States is handling the virus better than other countries, while 66 percent said it is handling it worse.

The NPR-Ipsos survey was conducted among 1,115 U.S. adults from July 30-31. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.