Nearly two-thirds of Americans — and a noticeably increasing number of Republicans — say they’re wearing a face mask whenever they leave the house, according to the latest installment of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Why it matters: A weakening partisan divide over masks, and a broad-based increase in the number of people wearing them, would be a welcome development as most of the country tries to beat back a rapidly growing outbreak.
By the numbers: 62% of those surveyed said they’re wearing a mask “all the time” when they leave the house — up from 53% when we asked the same question two weeks ago.
- The biggest jump was among Republicans: 45% say they’re wearing a mask all the time, up from 35% at the end of June.
- Even though it’s narrowing, there’s still a big partisan divide: 95% of Democrats say they wear a mask some or all of the time outside the house, compared with 74% of Republicans.
Between the lines: These numbers may seem high — do two-thirds of the people you pass on the street have a mask on? But the fact that more people are claiming to wear them is at least a sign that masks are increasingly seen as important.
- Among people who said they wear a mask sometimes, 32% reported that they’ve been denied entry into an establishment because they weren’t wearing one, and 21% said someone else has told them to put one on.
- 15% said they’ve told someone else to put on a mask.