Statewide Poll Shows Massive Support for Governor’s Mask Mandate
Each morning as we sit in the control room of our radio station we field countless hundreds of phone calls. Lots of those calls are about current events and obviously the most talked about current event at this time is COVID-19 and all things associated with it.
However, if one were to judge by the sheer volume of calls we receive, we would have told you that one of the most divisive things associated with COVID has been the mask mandates. Being told to do something is something a lot of people are just uncomfortable with and they've been vocal about it. However, in a report from the Louisiana Radio Network, we find the issue isn't nearly as divided as one would have imagined.
In the report, we discover that Louisiana House Speaker, Clay Schexnayder, commissioned Remington Research Group to poll Louisiana citizens about their feelings regarding Governor Edwards' mask mandate and, unless the poll has been tainted or done ineffectively, it shows wide and bipartisan support for the mandate and public health emergency declaration.
76 percent of those surveyed on Saturday and Sunday support a government mask mandate. UL Lafayette Poli Sci Professor Pearson Cross says it is rare to see that kind of unanimity.
“That is enormously strong and a fairly rare outcome in a poll like this, and it is a big poll, 3,600 people, so we can trust the results,” says Cross.
The poll also goes on to say that nearly two thirds of Louisianans oppose canceling the public health emergency declaration. Professor Cross adds, “Large majorities of Democrats, non-partisan people, and nearly one half of all Republicans think that the healthcare emergency in Louisiana needs to be carried on and addressed with seriousness.”