In public schools across the country, there are contentious debates over who should get the final say on mask mandates in K-12 schools.
In the most recent Economist/YouGov poll, parents of K-12 students tend to say that parents should have the most authority over whether K-12 students are required to wear masks. Nearly half of K-12 parents (46%) want “parents” to be the primary decision maker, while 45% chose a different named option, such as school administrators (19%), the government (16%) or teachers (10%).
While many U.S. adults also want parents to have the final say (36%), even more (49%) choose from the other named figures, including school administrators (24%), the government (18%), or teachers (7%).
When it comes to mandatory vaccines for K-12 students, Americans are also split: 42% say K-12 schools should be allowed to mandate vaccines generally, while 45% do not. Parents of K-12 students are more likely (51%) to say that the schools should not be allowed to mandate shots.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online between January 29 - February 1, 2022. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the 2018 American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as 2016 and 2020 Presidential votes (or non-votes). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3% for the overall sample.
Image: Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels
