Mask mandates remain popular among most Americans

Two-thirds of (67%) Americans say they would support a policy that would make it mandatory to wear masks in public. The latest Economist/YouGov Poll on support for mandatory mask policy comes as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to rise, hitting 4.44 million as of July 29.

Mask mandates have remained consistently popular in recent weeks. Seven in 10 (71%) Americans on July 4 and 11, also supported the policies.

Democrats (89%) are more likely than Independents (61%) and Republicans (51%) to support a mandatory mask policy, but it remains more favorable than not among each party. Republicans are the most likely to oppose a mandatory mask policy, with a quarter (25%) reporting that they would strongly oppose a mask mandate.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are more likely than supporters of President Trump to say they would support a mandatory mask policy. Four in five (81%) of those who choose Biden in a trial heat against Trump say they would strongly support a mask mandate, compared to 26 percent of those who say they will vote for Trump in 2020. One-third (33%) of Trump supporters say they strongly oppose a mask mandate, compared to 4 percent of Biden supporters.

See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll

Methodology: This Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online between July 26 - 28, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3.5% for the overall sample.

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