72% Of U.S. Voters Believe President Trump Should Wear A Face Mask When Around Others: Poll
by Matt PerezTOPLINE
Around 72% of United States voters believe President Trump should wear a face covering when meeting others, according to a survey from Kaiser Family Foundation, counter to his hardline stance against using a mask.
KEY FACTS
In a poll conducted between May 13 and May 18, the majority of Democratic and Independent men and women said they think Trump should don a mask, while 53% of Republican women and 43% of Republican men believe he should.
The partisan trends were similarly reflected in whether voters personally wear a mask most of the time in public: a total of 74% said they do, with only Republican men in the minority with 49%.
Pressure has grown around Trump over his continued decision not to wear a face mask despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending their use in public and people around him contracting the virus, including a personal valet.
Trump on May 21 toured a Michigan Ford facility without a face mask, going against the state's executive order mandating their use, as well as the plant's own policy requiring them to protect workers, causing the state's attorney general Dana Nessel to call him a "petulant child."
On Tuesday, Trump attempted to defend his implied criticism of Vice President Joe Biden over wearing a face mask in public by instead asking why Biden doesn't wear a mask while inside his home—and further called a reporter "politically correct" after he refused to remove his face mask to ask a question.
Biden shot back during his first in-person interview in over two months, saying “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.”
Chief critics
Some Republican governors, including Mike DeWine of Ohio and Doug Burgum of North Dakota, have urged constituents not to make face masks a political issue, with DeWine writing on Twitter, "Wearing a face covering is not about politics—it's about helping other people."
Crucial Quote
"It's sort of respect for another person and have that other person respect you. You wear a mask, they wear a mask, you protect each other," Fauci said on CNN Wednesday. "I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that's the kind of thing we should be doing."
Key background
The nonprofit also found that Trump's handling of the economy was receiving positive reviews from voters with 56% approval. However, his overall job performance remains negative, with 52% of all voters disapproving and 59% of swing voters giving poor marks. The United States crossed a grim milestone on Wednesday as it recorded over 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, a figure that far-and-away leads the world. The country also has the most confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 1,691,342.