John L. Micek | Editor-in-Chief
With states around the country in the grip of the Delta variant, a majority of Americans say they support the vaccine mandates that President Joe Biden announced last week, according to a new Monmouth University poll.
A majority similarly supports guidelines for masking and social distancing in their home states, as well requiring people to show proof of vaccination to do such things as board an airplane or go to work, the poll found.
The poll’s release comes as COVID-19 cases continue an unsettling upward climb in Pennsylvania that’s seen an increase in hospitalizations and fatalities.
It also comes as the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Democratic Wolf administration have engaged in pitched battles over a mask mandate for K-12 students and staff, and children and staff in child care centers that took effect on Sept. 7.
Earlier this week, a Republican-controlled House panel voted to ask an obscure regulatory body for a ruling on the order signed by acting Health Secretary Alison Beam. On the other side of the Capitol, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, is leading a lawsuit challenging the mandate.
More than two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) said they supported requiring students, teachers, and staff to wear face masks. That included majorities of blue state (68 percent) and red state (63 percent) residents, according to the poll.
“The current poll shows majorities of residents in both red states and blue states support some type of COVID control measures, and that includes many of the mandates proposed by the president last week,” Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray said in a statement.
Most respondents also said they support vaccine mandates for key groups mentioned in Biden’s mandate announcement last week.
Sixty-three percent of respondents said they supported mandatory vaccinations for health care workers; 58 percent favored mandatory vaccines for federal employees, as well as for private contractors who work for the federal government (55 percent).
Six in 10 respondents said they supported such mandates for teachers and school staff. Slightly more than half (51 percent) said they supported a vaccine mandate for school students aged 12 and older.
“The blue state/red state difference in support for any of these mandates is no larger than 5 points (e.g. 65 percent blue state and 60 percent red state for health care workers),” according to the poll. “Both types of states show majority support for all of these mandates except in the case of school children (53 percent in blue states, but just 4 percent in red states).”
The Monmouth University poll was conducted nationwide from Sept. 9 to to Sept. 13. The poll includes the opinions of 802 adults, with a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
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