Donald Trump wants to restart the economy. He's afraid that the economic troubles are hurting his chances of re-election (and damaging the profits of his family and friends). And many Republican officials agree with him, ready to sacrifice American lives to protect corporate profits.
These Republican officials (especially Trump) seem to think they can just "flip a switch" and restart the economy. That if they tell stores to reopen, the customers will flock back into them, and the economy will be booming once again. I hate to burst their silly bubbles, but that's just not going to happen.
Stores are not going to reopen just because a politician says they should. They will reopen when they think customers will return to shop with them. If they open and no customers come, then they will just lose more money. And the customers are not ready to return!
Note the charts above. Only 13% say they would return to public places (like stores) if the stay-at-home orders are lifted. The other 87% will not return until they believe they will be safe from the Coronavirus.
It's not going to be up to Trump, or any other politician when to reopen the economy. It is up to the public -- the people who will go out and once again be consumers. When they are ready (and feel safe), then the economy will start to heal. But not before then.
The charts are from the CBS News / YouGov Poll -- done between April 20th and 22nd of a national sample of 2,112 adults, with a 2.5 point margin of error.
Here are some other charts from that poll:
