A new Axios/Ipsos poll that was published Thursday found that the majority of Americans support mask mandates in schools.
According to the poll, 69% of Americans said they supported “their local school district requiring everyone in schools to wear masks;” 92% of Democrats supported the measure and 44% of Republicans supported it. Republicans were more likely to support states withholding funding from school districts that required masks, but support was still low. Just 30% of Republicans and 15% of Democrats supported it.
Eight states – Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Florida and Utah – prohibited public schools from requiring students to wear masks. Republican Flordia Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order threatening to withhold funds from schools that continue to enforce mask mandates. (RELATED: Biden Admin Says Federal Funds Can Be Used To Pay Florida School Employees Who Buck Mask Mandate Ban)
Axios-Ipsos poll:
69% of Americans support mandating masks in schools.
Breakdown:
92% of Democrats support
67% of Independents support
44% of Republicans support— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2021
Additionally, 64% of Americans, including 88% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans, said they supported mask requirements in all public places. Support for mandatory vaccinations in the workplace was also high, especially among Democrats – 78% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans supported employers requiring employees to be vaccinated.
The majority of Republicans – 57% – said they supported state laws that prohibited local government mask requirements, but just 16% of Democrats agreed.
Most people said they had not experienced many of the requirements they had expressed support for. Over half of respondents said that their employer required all employees to wear a mask at work, 33% had state or local mask requirements and 16% said their employer was requiring vaccination among employees.