Name: Hartford Courant/Sacred Heart Poll finds Connecticut residents strongly approve of Lamont’s response to COVID-19 crisis, but economic fears loom large
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Hartford Courant/Sacred Heart Poll finds Connecticut residents strongly approve of Lamont’s response to COVID-19 crisis, but economic fears loom large

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantApr 14, 2020 at 7:52 amWhile Gov. Ned Lamont has earned strong support among Connecticut residents for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, residents are divided on whether the state was prepared for the crisis and uncertain about what lies ahead, The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Connecticut residents between March 24 and April 3, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.02%.AdvertisementMore than two-thirds of respondents (69.2%) reported that the crisis has impacted their daily lives and the majority of respondents (91.8%) said they were either “very concerned” (66.2%) or “somewhat concerned” (25.6%) about how the pandemic would affect the state economy.Public perception of Connecticut’s preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic has been mixed, according to the poll. While 38.1% of respondents said that Connecticut was not prepared to handle the crisis, 21.8% said the state was prepared and 34.8% were neutral on the matter.AdvertisementBut Lamont has earned solid overall support for his response to the crisis, according to the poll, which also found that he received a notable uptick in his approval rating over the past month.According to the poll, 67.2% of respondents approved of Lamont’s communication to the public about the pandemic and 65.0% approving of his overall response to it. The poll also found substantial support for Lamont’s decision to shut down all but essential businesses.“He really has been very much front and center in the public eye since this crisis emerged,” Lesley DeNardis, the executive director of the Institute for Public Policy at Sacred Heart, said of Lamont. Pointing to his daily press conferences, DeNardis noted that “the public sees him trying genuinely to grapple with a public health crisis.”Of the Connecticut residents surveyed, 41.4% said they approved of how Lamont is handling his job as governor, a notable jump from his 31.0% approval rating in March, 28.1% approval rating in December, and 24.1% approval rating in September. In the April poll, 60.9% of Democrats voiced approval of the governor, compared to 34.5% of unaffiliated residents and 25.7% of Republicans. Still, Lamont’s overall approval rating remains well under 50%.Michael Vigeant, CEO of GreatBlue Research, the firm that conducted the poll for Sacred Heart University’s Institute for Public Policy and the Courant, attributed the recent increase in Lamont’s approval rating to his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which he has received strong support, according to the poll.“Once a major event happens — war, 9/11, a pandemic, a major storm — when people are in the midst of that, they start to take a look at the leadership in a different lens,” Vigeant said. “Many of the expectations change when you realize the decisions leadership is making is to keep people safe."In the past few weeks, Lamont has signed a flurry of executive orders implementing social distancing measures in Connecticut and closing non-essential businesses. The poll found that better than 8 in 10 people agreed with the decision to close non-essential businesses.As it happensGet the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut &gt; According to the poll, 67.4% of respondents said that timing of school closures was “about right," compared to 58.8% for bars, restaurants and theaters. About 30% of respondents said that bars and restaurants and theaters were closed “too late,” compared to a fifth of respondents who said the same for schools.AdvertisementRespondents had the lowest approval rate, 45.0%, for the extent to which Lamont has formed a plan to help Connecticut businesses weather the pandemic.“People are beginning to want to see some more definitive steps about a plan,” DeNardis said. “It appears people have been very cooperative with social distancing in the state. It’s been a learning curve but people have done their part to flatten the curve and now they’re looking for next steps.”Roughly one-third of residents said that their work life had been most affected by the pandemic. Of that group, 33.0% reported that they were working from home, 22.1% had been temporarily laid off, 13% were earning lower wages due to COVID-19, and 13.4% had lost their job entirely.Though the poll was conducted before, it found that in head-to-head races against President Donald Trump, Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden easily beat the incumbent president.According to the poll, 47.3% of respondents would choose Biden and 34.1% support Trump. In a Trump-Sanders matchup, the Vermont senator was selected by 47.8% of voters while 36.7% of voters surveyed said they would pick Trump.However, when registered Democrats were asked to choose between Biden and Sanders, 52% favored Biden and 32.5% Sanders. Sanders remains on the ballot in the Connecticut Democratic primary, which is slated for June 2. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantApr 14, 2020 at 7:52 amWhile Gov. Ned Lamont has earned strong support among Connecticut residents for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, residents are divided on whether the state was prepared for the crisis and uncertain about what lies ahead, The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Connecticut residents between March 24 and April 3, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.02%.AdvertisementMore than two-thirds of respondents (69.2%) reported that the crisis has impacted their daily lives and the majority of respondents (91.8%) said they were either “very...

Hartford Courant/Sacred Heart Poll finds Connecticut residents strongly approve of Lamont’s response to COVID-19 crisis, but economic fears loom large

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