Gallup Poll: Majority Support Mask, Vaccine Mandates in Schools

The majority of Americans support mask mandates in schools for unvaccinated students and teachers or staff members, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday.

A smaller majority also says that middle and high school students should be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend in-person classes.

Details of the survey include:

• Among U.S. adults, 67% support mask mandates for unvaccinated teachers and staff members, with  60% of K-12 parents backing it.
• Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults and 57% of parents of school-aged children back mask mandates for unvaccinated students.
• Regarding COVID-19 vaccine requirements, 60% of Americans overall support them for high school students and 56% back them for those in middle school.
• However, only 47% of K-12 parents favor vaccine requirements for high school students and 43% for those attending middle school.
• Seventy-six percent of K-12 parents think their children will be in school as much as they were before the coronavirus pandemic, while 17% are unsure and 7% do not think it will be a normal year.
• Although states headed by Republican and Democratic governors have had significant differences in their instructions to schools during the pandemic, parents have very similar expectations about their children's school schedule this year, no matter what party their governor represents. 

Results for this Gallup poll are based on self-administered web surveys conducted July 19-26, just as the American Academy of Pediatrics announced new guidance calling for universal masking in schools regardless of vaccination status. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the same recommendation at the end of the poll's field period.

The survey included a random sample of 3,475 adults. For results based on any individual sample, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Margins of error for subgroups are higher.

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