Parents want their kids back in class, but few agree on proper safety measures

Parents see less eye-to-eye, though, on which COVID-19 safety precautions to take in schools. Per an August survey from the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 31 percent of unvaccinated adults versus 71 percent of vaccinated ones said they favored mask requirements for teachers. Those numbers barely budged when respondents were asked whether students should be required to wear masks: 29 percent of unvaccinated adults and 69 percent of vaccinated ones said face coverings should be mandatory for school-age children — many of whom are not yet old enough to get the vaccine.

Advertisement

To be sure, Republicans are less likely than Democrats to support things like mask mandates and less likely overall to have received the jab, but politics alone doesn’t explain everything we’re seeing here. For some school-safety precautions, the gaps are biggest between those who are vaccinated and those who are not.

​The divide is especially pronounced when respondents were asked whether teachers and students should be required to get the vaccine. That same AP/NORC survey found a 54-percentage-point gap in the views between vaccinated and unvaccinated adults when they were asked about teachers — 74 percent to 20 percent, respectively, said they were in favor of the vaccine requirement for teachers. There was a similar 52-point difference on whether students 12 and older should have to get the jab: 70 percent of vaccinated adults said they should have to, compared with only 18 percent of unvaccinated adults who said the same.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement