* YouGov poll conducted for CBS News of 2,578 Adults surveyed February 8-11 with an MoE of ±2.2 percent: “Do you think your state should have mask mandates in place now, or not?”…

* Among just parents of school-aged children: “Do you think wearing masks for students in your children’s school should be required, optional or not allowed?”…

* All respondents: “Which best describes your feelings toward things like social distancing, limits on public events and indoor dining, and mask mandates? Are you generally feeling: CHECK ALL THAT APPLY”…

Patient about them until the outbreak ends 53%
Frustrated by having to do them 37%
Exhausted by the extra effort they require 27%
Encouraged by their effectiveness 21%

Toplines and xtabs are here.

Reporters, especially, need to take a hard look at those numbers. Angry parent Facebook groups don’t reflect real life.

…Adding… Case in point from this Decatur Herald & Review editorial…

We’ve reached a point where the majority of the public has had its fill of mask mandates and regulations.

No data was cited, just gut feelings of the editorial board.

       

72 Comments - Bruce( no not him) - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:26 am: ===Angry parent Facebook groups don’t reflect real life.=== No, but they do get the attention of politicians. - Huh? - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:27 am: Where is the noisy minority complaining about mask mandates? From the news, masks are a violation of constitutional rights. - illini - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:31 am: I have to wonder if the candidates like Darren Bailey and Mary Miller ( and others ) will now modify their positions on this issue. Oh,never mind, I think I know the answer. - Roadrager - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:31 am: Yes, but that 36% is very good at performative crying at school board meetings and leaving voicemails for grade school principals telling them to get cancer and die, so guess where the policy trends. - Google Is Your Friend - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:34 am: Death threats are pretty effective apparently - NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:40 am: ==Angry parent Facebook groups don’t reflect real life.== And neither does Mayor Langfelder in Springfield: https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/coronavirus/2022/02/11/springfield-il-mayor-supports-lifting-illinois-covid-mask-mandate/6749512001/ Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder said Thursday he supports the lifting of the state’s mask mandate. “We’re going to follow the governor’s orders. Right now I’m wearing a mask. On March 1, I won’t be,” Langfelder said. - NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:42 am: And we also need a mandatory vax mandate for all public employees, including state and local employees. Inlcuding the booster when eligible. Or face consequences. - My Thoughts - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:43 am: YouGov survey methodology is arguably among the least accurate of the major national polling firms. Seems strange that even traditional “left” state governors like California and New York are removing mask mandates. Did their teams forget to do polling? The Jan 29 to Feb 1 YouGov Biden approval rating poll was -4…in stark contrast to average. - Dirty Red - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:44 am: = No data was cited, just gut feelings of the editorial board. = The H&R reporters filing FOIAs with the Macon County Health Department, which no longer shares daily COVID-19 numbers due to media sensationalism, gratefully appreciate the Board’s support. - Big Mike - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:44 am: Talked to my son and daughter-in-law last night and they both teach in local high schools and they are leaving teaching at year’s end totally disgusted with out of control students and parents. My daughter is a school social worker and talked about serious issues with several students and parents ignoring signs of serious problems. School administrators are not backing up the professional staff when meeting these parents. - Jocko - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:44 am: ==But the path could have been easier and clearer had Pritzker let citizens look under the hood.== Translation: I refuse to let science dictate my behavior…until I come running back to science to save me from my poor decisions. - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:45 am: ===YouGov survey methodology=== B+ from 538 https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/ - NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:46 am: And for the record, I’ll still be masking on Mar. 1. (I would not be surprised if the mask mandate is extended beyond that date in state buildings anyway). And I think you all know my stance on big crowds the rest of my life after this 2-year ordeal. I am immunocompromised, for the record. - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:46 am: Squeaky wheels, oil. Nothing new under the sun. - Arsenal - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:50 am: ==Seems strange that even traditional “left” state governors like California and New York are removing mask mandates. Did their teams forget to do polling?== They’re playing where the ball is going to be. 56-44 isn’t a wide enough spread to really move votes, and they’re predicting that as the Omicron wage continues to subside, so will people’s interest in masks. Plus: in a midterm with an unpopular Joe Biden as President, who do you think will turn out to vote more, the 56, or the 44? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 9:54 am: ===No data was cited=== Anecdotal wants are never data… it’s catering to folks unwanting facts or actual thoughts to what a majority is. - Bruce( no not him) - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:00 am: The mask part is the least of the issues with the poll. ===1. Generally speaking, do you feel things in America today are going… Somewhat badly . . . . 33% Very badly . . . . . . . 34% - John Lopez - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:02 am: While I would have answered “No” to mask mandates on survey, it would have been from the context I can make up my own mind, without the government doing it for me. For example, I stopped wearing cloth masks in early December and went N95 only, weeks before the “experts” recommended to switch to N95s. In Illinois, the ultimate test for people crowding local school board meetings comes on April 4, 2023, the date of the next local school board races, where voters have direct say who sits on school boards. Given Algonquin D300 was in the news last week, must be pointed out, the voter turnout last April in D300 was less than 10%. If people wanting to end mask mandates want to be taken seriously, come April 4, 2023 is when you can prove you really represent the community. One other note about D300, this polling does not condone the unprofessional behavior by school board members against parents which made the news last week. And the threats made to school board members and staff not condoned either. - Candy Dogood - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:03 am: Gotta watch out for that 7%. - Norseman - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:03 am: === Reporters, especially, need to take a hard look at those numbers. Angry parent Facebook groups don’t reflect real life. === Journalists are doing a horrible job on this issue. They basically serve as the outlet for the anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers. They’re constantly headlining anti-mask stories with no discussion of the public health side. It’s rare that you see them interview a pro-mask parent. This is why the polling doesn’t matter. The minority view is winning among politicians because they mainly see and hear from them. Dem. Gov. Polis was on TV yesterday talking about mask mandates. The only thing you couldn’t see during the interview was the yellow streak running down his back. Clearly, he’s been cowed by the anti-maskers. - Roadrager - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:09 am: ==Journalists are doing a horrible job on this issue. They basically serve as the outlet for the anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers. They’re constantly headlining anti-mask stories with no discussion of the public health side. It’s rare that you see them interview a pro-mask parent.== At least once a week, David Leonhardt writes a morning newsletter for the New York Times insisting that we need to be “done” with COVID and/or COVID prevention measures. He’ll slip in a mention of a couple thousand Americans still dying from it daily about ten paragraphs in, but won’t let that get in the way of his argument. This is the first interaction with the “news” millions of people get in this country every morning. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:10 am: ===In Illinois, the ultimate test for people crowding local school board meetings comes on April 4, 2023, the date of the next local school board races, where voters have direct say who sits on school boards.=== This didn’t turn out well last time… The reason these current school boards are steadfast… they won, generally speaking, on Covid. Rich had a whole post on it after the last election - Homebody - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:14 am: Media has always overreacted to the noisy people and given too little credence to empirical data. This of course only serves to continue to magnify the voices of the loudest extremists because a news report that says “Most Americans pretty reasonable about everything, tbh” doesn’t get as many clicks. - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:16 am: Just because a mask mandate is lifted Doesn’t mean you can’t still choose to wear your mask - illinifan - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:19 am: The loud folks get 100% of the attention from the media, thus adding to the narrative that “everyone” wants masks gone. In a way this also creates a self fulfilling prophecy and eventually sways those in the middle. I wish the media did a better job reporting about folks who want to do the right thing, but that doesn’t make money. - Grandson of Man - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:21 am: If memory serves, support for mitigation measures has been generally strong since the pandemic began. It’s the loud minority shouting at school board meetings and threatening people. Most people support public health measures. The people are shouting ultimately at a virus, a packet of genetic material needing a host to reproduce, not caring about ideology or politics. That’s the insanity of it. Public health is not political. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:24 am: Yes, anon, we can continue to wear our masks. Though I won’t be going out masked without my pepperspray in my hand. - City Zen - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:34 am: ==Yes, but that 36% is very good at performative crying== 43% - Grandson of Man - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:34 am: “Public health is not political.” Would like to modify, of course it is political. But in the past, was a large minority protesting against mandatory school vaccinations? Everybody got their shots, for years, without screaming about government overreach. Today a loud minority has politicized public health in a way that didn’t happen before. - ponderings - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:39 am: You know what no one is doing - asking the kids wearing the masks what they actually think, because I promise you they don’t actually care and wearing a mask is not a big deal to the vast majority. - CCrider - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:40 am: was that a national poll or illinois poll? - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:41 am: ===43% === 7 percent. - Chicagonk - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:43 am: Honestly surprised by the results from this poll. Obviously masks aren’t that big of an inconvenience, but if you are vaxxed and boosted the risk of covid is very very low. Would think that the polls would start to show a growing percentage of Americans wanting to move on from covid especially considering the relative risk. - illinifan - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:45 am: Ponderings, I talked with my grandkids about masks and their view was they had no problem wearing them as it allows them to go to school and be with their friends. They have traveled during this craziness, had fun at events, been to the theater. All masked. I can guarantee you their memory is not that they wore masks, but rather they were at DisneyWorld or on the beaches of Hawaii - JS Mill - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:53 am: =School administrators are not backing up the professional staff when meeting these parents.= Speak for yourself. Their admins might not be, but we are and so are most others. We are all together in confronting the insanity these days. And teachers and admins are leaving this business. We are seeing the end of public ed as we know it, the last bastion of real democracy is on life support thanks to crazies that get way too much attention thanks to volume and social media. - GoBullz - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:59 am: =Ponderings, I talked with my grandkids about masks and their view was they had no problem wearing them as it allows them to go to school and be with their friends. They have traveled during this craziness, had fun at events, been to the theater. All masked.= If children are only “allowed to see their friends” if they wear masks, then sure, they don’t mind wearing them. - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:00 am: Cheryl That is your right But what is the pepper spray for To spray non masked people ? - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:04 am: My guess is the blue state Governors who did a quick reversal on mask mandates against CDC recommendations were looking at a different poll - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:11 am: ===were looking at a different poll=== Did you miss the projection for 500 hospitalizations in the next couple of weeks? Sure, politics played a role. The numbers to watch are hospitalizations, your hyperpartisanship notwithstanding - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:14 am: === If children are only “allowed to see their friends” if they wear masks, then sure, they don’t mind wearing them.=== They also don’t want to get their friends sick You want kids to go to school, safety precautions or not, remember? - cermak_rd - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:25 am: - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:00 am: Cheryl can make her own answer, but I think that we have all seen and heard of various nuts that become enraged at even seeing a mask and either verbally or physically assault the mask wearer. This is not a problem in my neck of the woods, where mask wearing is common, but might be an issue where she lives. - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:32 am: Cermak I think you have it the other way around It’s the masked that attack the non masked The non masked dont care if you choose to wear a mask It’s the unmasked that becomes triggered when they see a non mask person - Arsenal - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:44 am: ==If children are only “allowed to see their friends” if they wear masks, then sure, they don’t mind wearing them. == My kids are allowed to go mask free at friends’ houses, when friends are over, etc. But still have no issue with masking at school. Some masks are more comfortable than others, but that’s all. - Illinifan - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:57 am: Thank you OW. You nailed it. The grandkids have talked about the anti-maskers at their school and said they are silly. The eldest granddaughter said “don’t they get it, it is about keeping everyone safe and wearing a mask is no big deal”. - Stormsw7706 - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:58 am: Poll really cuts through the noise. I’m hoping that the vast majority of Americans are just sick and tired of continually responding to the COVID deniers. I have my shots and booster and I still wear my mask to model for my grandkids. They wear masks and don’t think twice about it. I will confess I do like wearing it to some extent because I know it probably irritates the crazies - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:03 pm: - Illinifan - My best to you and your grandkids, and thanks. Kids do want to be with their friends, but are better at understanding empathy, sympathy, compassion, as a whole “here” in these times, apparently, and that’s great every time I’m told of these instances. Polling, like here, and kids learning too, the greater good is helped with public health safety. - Travel Guy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:04 pm: –I think you have it the other way around It’s the masked that attack the non masked– That’s funny…unless you consider asking a person to wear a mask an attack. Check out any school board meeting and see who is attacking whom. The yelling, heckling, and refusing to follow local procedures isn’t a problem for most mask wearers. Does anyone actually believe your narrative who doesn’t consider the Dupage Policy Journal and IPI opinion masquerading as news? - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:15 pm: Travel Those people are fighting for their rights They really don’t care if one excercises their rights to wear a mask Non masked want their own right to choose also - Demoralized - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:22 pm: ==Those people are fighting for their rights== Do you believe the government should be able to respond to a pandemic by imposing certain mitigation measures? Yes or no? And if no, why not? - 47th Ward - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:33 pm: ===It’s the masked that attack the non masked=== Just like that guy who was attacked at the Wiener Circle last week. Poor guy. All he wanted was some cheese fries and maybe a chocolate shake. Instead, he got tossed for his choice not to wear a mask and had to fight back by throwing snowballs and coming back to break their door with a brick. Up is down also. - Big Dipper - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:33 pm: ==It’s the unmasked that becomes triggered when they see a non mask person== Um I don’t think you meant that lol. - Suburban Mom - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:34 pm: We talked to our kids about the end of the mask mandates coming before too long, and all three of them were unsure if they wanted to be unmasked at school. They’ve been really careful for a really long time, and their cousins who live nearby are too young to be vaccinated, and my 5-year-old thought she might keep wearing her mask until her cousin could be vaccinated, hopefully in the next 6 weeks. I expect as they start seeing other kids at school with masks off, they will be more eager to take theirs off. But to them, it’s basically a big shrug. They don’t mind wearing their masks, and they’re really used to the whole process at this point; to them it’s no different than having to wear snow pants if they want to play on the playground snowpiles. Also my 5-year-old spends a lot of time coordinating her daily mask and mask lanyard to her outfit. (Thank goodness for Etsy, so I could get a variety of fashionable lanyards in kindergartener-approved colors.) With a couple of close friends, whose families are all vaccinated, and who we know are covid safe, we’ve coordinated with the other parents, and given the kids the option to have unmasked playdates. But the kids every time choose to wear masks. I’ve asked them about it, and they’ve basically said they remember the hard lockdowns and being stuck at home and not being able to go to school, and they’d rather wear masks and get to have playdates because the masks are no big deal, than risk Covid exposure and being quarantined. They also told me it’s only a few more weeks until it’s warm enough to have outdoor playdates, without masks. (They also told me that my enjoyment of the Superbowl halftime show means that I’m old.) Personally, I’m pretty ready to socialize unmasked with people outside my bubble, but I’ll keep wearing them to stores & workplaces … for as long as it helps other people feel comfortable, I guess. It’s just not really an imposition on my life in any way. - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:35 pm: You are correct There was a typo - Anon again - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:36 pm: Trying to respond - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:50 pm: Demoralized Yes at the beginning when there were so many unknowns We know more now We have vaccines now We have therapeutics now This is not day one Anyone that wants a vaccine can get one Anyone that wants to wear a mask can wear one - City Zen - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:14 pm: Unmasking students is as popular as the Fair Tax. - granville - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:20 pm: Did they remove or not allow DK/NO (don’t know/no opinion)? I actually agree with the majority there but anecdotally (NOT THE PLURAL OF DATA OF COURSE) I run into people all the time who either don’t really care either way or maybe just don’t want to talk about it with someone they suspect might be pro-masking. I’m a little skeptical when I see polls where y/no = 100% is all. - zatoichi - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:32 pm: Just been in Seattle. Masks are everywhere. Indoor anything requires a proof vax/test. Restaurants, museums, farmer markets, mountain resorts are packed. Hotel we stayed was full. Their attitude…masks are no big deal, get this virus done. Literally no hassles about mask any where we went or locals we talked to. - Travel Guy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 2:39 pm: ==Those people are fighting for their rights They really don’t care if one excercises their rights to wear a mask== I’m not sure where you live, but name-calling those who wear masks is happening everywhere from retail establishments to schools that dropped their mask mandates, and it’s not the other way around, anon, as you purport. Despite what the right has been doing for years…saying something repeatedly doesn’t automatically make it true. The republican candidates for governor were for a mask mandate before they were against it. - Anon - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:17 pm: Honestly neither one of us can site 100% proof either way My experience is that the unmasked do not care if someone chooses to mask up My experience has witnessed harassment from masked toward unmasked. each side needs to mind their own business More than likely those that choose to wear a mask are probably vaxxed as well They don’t have anything to worry about from an u masked person - Uptown Progressive - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:20 pm: Not sure which David Leonhardt Roadrager (at 10.09) is reading. This is from Friday NYT: “One of the few Covid truisms is that policies should change as reality changes. A world without vaccines calls for more restrictions than a world with vaccines. When cases are surging and hospitals are overwhelmed, as was the case last month, more restrictions make sense. If hospitalizations and deaths keep falling, continued steps toward normalcy will make sense.” Written by an adult, for adults. - Peanut - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:23 pm: I also am immunocompromised, fully vaxed & boosted, a state employee and will wear a mask after March 1 and going forward. - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:23 pm: ===each side needs to mind their own business=== The difference is your “decision” to not wear a mask MAKES that my business. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:24 pm: ===each side needs to mind their own business=== That’s literally not how public health works. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:25 pm: ===My experience has witnessed harassment from masked toward unmasked.=== Are you not getting out much? This is… gaslighting - Proud Papa Bear - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:32 pm: Fremont schools had to go remote today because anti-maskers had planned to harass children, just as they harassed them last week. https://www.google.com/amp/s/wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/fremont-school-district-79-shifts-to-remote-learning-over-masks-protest/amp/ - Lansing Lou - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:44 pm: “The difference is your “decision” to not wear a mask MAKES that my business.” But if you’re vaccinated, what are you worried about?? I’m vaccinated and don’t worry about being around those that aren’t - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:45 pm: ===But if you’re vaccinated, what are you worried about?=== People like you who apparently don’t know how to read. lol Whatever. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:47 pm: === what are you worried about?=== Breakthrough cases that may infect, say, an unvaccinated child, vulnerable adults that may not have easy recoveries, vaccinations or not. See, it’s about someone other than “you”, the possessive “you” referring to one’s self. That’s why the selfish never grasp what public health means. It’s never about the individual… “you” - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:56 pm: ===you two=== Speaking only for myself, I’ve been to places where the infection rates, hospital capacities, death rates were off the charts, officially bad, and was there, for days, at a couple points in 2 years, literally “weeks”… and not at a resort, or “hideaway” Still, even if I was the *ONLY* soul, and I was many times, with a mask on, I did it, not for me, but I did it for all around me I was going to be in contact later with and when I got home I isolated, 10+ days, for family back home. There no “tough guy” covid badge, those are for the weak minded and callous souls. - Grandson of Man - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 4:03 pm: It’s been a pandemic surge with Omicron, that’s what many are worried about. That’s why there are mandates, and why many support them. Others want the pandemic to be over while it rages or is near the peak. If our ancestors acted this privileged and soft when they were attacked by enemies, we wouldn’t be here today. - Shemp - Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 4:15 pm: Having gone to several athletic events in a few area schools now (downstate), there are far less than half the parents masking (maybe a third?) and only a small minority of athletes ( Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.