Wide partisan split seen on school mask mandates: poll

A new poll shows a wide partisan divide among Democrats and Republicans when it comes to school mask mandates. 

A total of 85 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents, and just 32 percent of Republicans surveyed support mask mandates for all students and staff at their child’s school, the Axios/Momentive poll published on Tuesday found. 

Pollsters also discovered that opposition to school mask mandates is highest in states like Colorado (37 percent) Iowa (44 percent) and Ohio (43 percent). 

In Texas, where the governor has banned mask mandates in schools, 46 percent of Republicans oppose mask mandates in all public places, according to the new survey. In Florida, the poll found, 52 percent of Republican parents said they oppose mask mandates. 

But pollsters found the majority of all parents nationwide supports mask requirements for students as public health officials and local school districts look to contain the surge of the delta variant this fall. 

Nearly 60 percent of all parents indicated they backed the broadest school mandates, nearly twice as many as the percentage who say they oppose all mask requirements, Axios reported.