Poll: Majority back masks, vaccines in schools
BOSTON — As COVID19 cases surge throughout the country, a majority of Americans say they support mask mandates for students and teachers in K-12 schools, according to a poll, but their views are divided along political lines.
About 6 in 10 Americans say students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school, according to a poll from Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Similar shares say teachers and eligible students should also be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
In a reflection of that polarizing debate, the poll found about 3 in 10 Republicans said they favor mask requirements for students and teachers, compared with about 8 in 10 Democrats. There was a similar split over vaccine mandates in schools.
Some of the nation’s largest school districts will require masks for students and masks and vaccinations for teachers and other staffers, including in New York City.
That’s fine with Budhiono Riyanto, 37, of Queens, who will be sending his son, Gabriel, 7, to school next month.
“I understand personal choice, I understand personal freedom. But when it comes to public health, we should all be looking out for each other,” Riyanto said.
But Kim Oldfield, of rural Jessieville, Arkansas, said it should be up to families to decide.
“America is supposed to be the land of the free,” Oldfield, 70, said. “And when the government starts getting into your personal life and making you do things that you don’t want to do, people don’t like that.”
The poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.