My1sttoday: New survey shows nearly 70 percent backs Joe Biden’s federal mask mandate. According to a Vox/Data for Progress poll released Thursday.
The survey found 69 percent support for the mandate, which would be in place on federal property open to the public such as courthouses and post offices.
Pollsters found even higher support for a general requirement for masks to be worn in public places, at 72 percent. Sixty-six percent said masks should be required in the presence of anyone outside one’s own household.
Despite frequent partisan splits in surveys about mask mandates, the poll found majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supported the latter two proposals, although, a smaller majority of Republicans.
The mask mandate is part of an ambitious slate of pandemic-related proposals the president-elect has announced for his first 100 days in office. The same plans call for ensuring all schools can safely reopen by the end of the 100-day period.
The poll found 27 percent believe schools should currently be open, compared with 35 percent who said they should open when they have the resources to ensure safety. Another 35 percent said schools should remain closed until the coronavirus vaccine is readily available to the public.
Pollsters found majority support for a number of other coronavirus-related policies, including free vaccines at 85 percent, free testing for the virus at 78 percent, and more drive-thru and mobile testing sites at 81 percent. Other policies with smaller majority support included access to self-administered home testing (65 percent) and a month-long lockdown to stem the spread of the virus (52 percent).
Thirty-eight percent of people said they would take the vaccine as soon as it was available to them, while 16 percent said they would wait for people they knew to take it. Nineteen percent said they would never take it, including 31 percent of Republicans, 19 percent of independents and 8 percent of Democrats.
Researchers surveyed 1,104 likely voters from Dec. 19-21. The poll has a 2.9 point margin of error.