Most K-12 parents support mask mandates: poll

Most parents of K-12 students support mask mandates amid a nationwide spike in coronavirus infections, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

Sixty percent of parents of K-12 students surveyed said they support mask mandates for unvaccinated teachers and staff, and 57 percent say they support such mandates for unvaccinated students.

The numbers are slightly lower than the amount of U.S. adults who favor such mandates. Overall, 67 percent of U.S. adults favored masks for unvaccinated teachers and staff, while 64 percent supported mask mandates for unvaccinated students.

The survey was conducted just as the American Academy of Pediatrics released its recommendation advising masks for students ages 2 and over to protect unvaccinated students from getting sick.

The poll also comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues new guidance advising that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in public, indoor settings in areas with “substantial” or “high” levels of transmission.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently the only vaccine available for minors ages 12 and older.

The majority of parents of children under 12 and parents of vaccinated students age 12-18 supported mask mandates in schools, Gallup found.

By comparison, 35 percent of parents of unvaccinated students ages 12-18 were supportive of such mandates.

But parents of K-12 students were far less welcoming when it comes to vaccine mandates for students than U.S. adults overall.

Sixty percent of U.S. adults favored vaccine mandates for high school students, compared to 47 percent of K-12 parents. Fifty-six percent of adults favored such mandates for middle school students, as opposed to 43 percent of K-12 parents.

Gallup surveyed 3,475 adults ages 18 and older July 19-26. The margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points.