Nevadans strongly approve of the “stay at home” order even as they begin to feel the economic strain of business shutdowns, according to a recent survey conducted for the Retail Association of Nevada.
Three out of four people surveyed by Amplify Relations on April 6 said they supported Gov. Steve Sisolak’s order directing people to stay at home . Only 17 percent opposed the order, which the governor signed on April 1.
The order is in place until April 30, but it seems many Nevadans aren’t convinced the restrictions will be lifted at that time. When asked how long they expect the shelter-in-place order to be in effect, only a third chose the date April 30. Another third chose May 31. Twelve-percent said they thought the order would last less than a month, 8 percent believed it would last until June 30, 5 percent believed it would last into the summer, 2 percent believed it would last into the fall, and 10 percent said they didn’t know.
While the official stay-at-home order wasn’t signed until April 1, Sisolak shutdown most “non-essential” businesses and schools in mid-March. Restaurants were forced to shut down their dine-in options but were allowed to operate delivery or curbside pickup.
A clear majority of survey respondents — 69 percent — said they supported the closures. About a quarter of those supporters wanted fewer or no exceptions for restaurants. Meanwhile, 21 percent of all respondents opposed the closures outright.
The survey was limited to people who were employed either full or part time on March 1 — two weeks before the avalanche of business shutdowns. At that date, 78 percent of respondents had been employed full time and 22 percent were employed part time.
On April 6, 42 percent of respondents were employed full time, 26 percent were working part time, and 31 percent were unemployed. Those employment findings largely mirrored an earlier survey conducted by Amplify on March 23 — about one week after the non-essential business closures.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported that somebody in their household was either laid off or furloughed due to coronavirus.
Only 7 percent of respondents said they thought they would earn more money as a result of coronavirus; 58 percent said they believed they would earn less money. About a third — 32 percent — expected to earn about the same amount of money.
The survey also asked people how they thought the state should handle the forthcoming budget deficits. Here’s how those answers played out:
The survey in its entirety is available here: Retail Association of Nevada survey
