Poll: 9 of 10 Americans Wearing Masks in Public

The vast majority of Americans say they either “always” or “sometimes” wear a mask in public, a Morning Consult survey released this week revealed.

The survey, taken July 23-26 among 2,200 U.S. adults, showed that 95 percent have worn masks in public, such as a grocery store, “to some extent” in the last month.

Of those, 79 percent indicated that they “always” wear a mask, and 16 percent said they “sometimes” wear a mask. Mask-wearing has increased significantly in the last three months; in April, only 50 percent of adults indicated they were “always” or “sometimes” wearing a mask.

The current number of those who have indicated they are wearing masks remains relatively consistent across party lines: 98 percent of Democrats, 95 percent of independents, and 93 percent of Republicans.

Morning Consult reports:

The June and July numbers show a significant increase in mask use since the earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic: In an April 7-9 survey, half of adults said they were using masks to some extent in the past month, with 26 percent saying they always wore them in public. The lower rate of face mask usage at the time can be attributed partly to the lack of mandates, supply shortages and guidance from U.S. and global health officials that stated masks should be reserved for health care workers and those infected with COVID-19.

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As the coronavirus case count has increased in recent weeks, so has the number of states and businesses that have issued rules to make wearing face masks mandatory. Over half of U.S. states now have some form of a face-mask mandate in place, and businesses of all sizes — from mom-and-pop stores to Walmart Inc. and Target Inc. —  are requiring customers to don face coverings in their buildings. And although he stopped short of issuing a federal mandate, President Donald Trump recently recommended that Americans wear face masks in public, despite his own resistance to using them publicly during the first few months of the pandemic.

While several businesses have indicated they will not enforce the mask orders in order to avoid conflict with customers, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski stated this week that employees may call police on customers who refuse to abide by the company’s mask mandate.

“We’re spending a lot of time right now in our restaurants making sure we can keep our crews safe, making sure we can keep our customers safe,” he told CBS This Morning.

“We’ve for quite some time required our crew to wear masks, but we thought that in light of what we’re seeing, it’s prudent now that we also ask our customers to wear masks in the restaurant as well,” he continued.

“If someone is unwilling to wear a mask and comply with our rules, that might be where we might bring in law enforcement,” he added.