Good Riddance, Mask Mandate!

Most Americans approve of a judge’s decision striking down mandatory masks on trains and airlines, and believe the danger from the COVID-19 pandemic is mostly over.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 51% of American Adults believe ending the mask mandate is a good decision, while 34% think it’s a bad decision. Another 16% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

President Joe Biden’s administration has signaled its intent to appeal U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s Monday ruling that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overstepped its authority by imposing the rule that forced plane and train passengers to wear masks. While a majority (51%) of Democrats say ending the mask mandate is a bad decision, 72% of Republicans believe it’s a good decision. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 48% think it is a good decision to end the mask mandate for airline passengers and 36% say it’s a bad decision.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of American Adults believe the danger from COVID-19 is mostly over now, while 40% think the virus is still a major public health threat.

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The survey of 1,000 U.S. American Adults was conducted on April 20-21, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

As has been true since the COVID-19 pandemic first began in early 2020, politics continues to influence opinions about the virus and how to deal with it. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats say COVID-19 is still a major public health threat, but only 24% of Republicans and 33% of the unaffiliated share that view. Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans, 33% of Democrats and 53% of the unaffiliated believe the danger from COVID-19 is mostly over now.

More whites (54%) than Black Adults (34%) or other minorities (50%) think it is a good decision to end the mask mandate on public transportation. Black Adults (62%) are more likely than whites (38%) or other minorities (33%) to believe COVID-19 is still a major public health threat.

Slightly more men (54%) than women (48%) say Judge Mizelle’s ruling that ended the mask mandate is a good decision. Women (44%) are more likely than men (36%) to think COVID-19 is still a major health threat. Men under 40 are most likely to think the COVID-19 danger is mostly over.

Americans 65 and older are most likely to think the end of the mask mandate is a bad decision, while a majority of Americans under age 65 think the danger from the virus is mostly over now.

By a margin of 16 points, married Americans are more likely than their unmarried peers to believe Judge Mizelle’s ruling that ended the mask mandate is a good decision.

Breaking down responses by income categories, those with annual incomes over $200,000 are most likely to think the end of the mask mandate is a bad decision, and that COVID-19 is still a major threat to public health.

Half of Americans with full-time jobs say they worked from home at least part of the time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than a third expect they’ll do more work from home in the future.

The $43 billion offer by Elon Musk to buy the Twitter social media platform has Americans divided – and Democrats are most opposed to Musk’s bid for Twitter.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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