A majority of American adults support local or state mask requirements and employer mandates for COVID-19 vaccinations, according to a new poll.
The Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index interviewed 1,041 people between Aug. 13 and Aug. 16. In all, 64% of those surveyed supported local mask requirements in public spaces while 55% supported their employer requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Only 33% of respondents supported state laws prohibiting local mask mandates.
Support was broadest for local school districts requiring everyone in schools to wear masks (69%). Children under the age of 12 are still not eligible to take any of the three coronavirus vaccines authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Masking in schools has become a partisan issue, at least in statehouses. Republican governors in states such as Florida and Texas have prohibited public schools from issuing mask mandates while threatening to withhold state funding if they do.
Yet 92% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans polled by Axios/Ipsos supported school districts requiring masks. Small minorities of Democrats (15%) and Republicans (30%) indicated they supported withholding funding from school districts or local governments requiring masks. Overall, only 22% of those polled supported pulling funding.
Despite broad support for masking and vaccination, the majority of those polled hadn’t experienced local governments requiring the former and employers mandating the latter.
Among those surveyed, only a third of respondents live somewhere with local mask requirements. Even fewer (16%) work for an employer requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
As infections continue to rise nationwide due to the highly contagious delta variant’s continued spread, the vast majority of those polled have not had their employers delay their return to the office. Of working adults surveyed, only 17% had their employer extend or return to a work-from-home policy.
In all, 77% of the survey's respondents said they were concerned about the delta variant spreading across the country.
