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Many Minnesotans are returning to school and work this week as an increasing number of people are testing positive for COVID-19.
Yet even as person-to-person interaction rises in schools and workplaces — increasing opportunities for the disease to spread — proven mitigation measures like vaccines and masks remain contentious.
Still, a recent poll by MinnPost and Change Research suggests the majority of Minnesota voters support requiring unvaccinated students to wear masks in schools and employers’ rights to mandate vaccines in the workplace.
Masks in schools
In July, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended masks for students — regardless of vaccination status — in schools.
But as the school year starts up with most students attending in-person, Minnesota districts are split on whether or not to require masks for students (here’s a list of district mask policies from KARE 11).
The MinnPost/Change Research poll found that 54 percent of Minnesotans who are registered to vote either somewhat or strongly support requiring unvaccinated K-12 students to wear masks in schools, while 44 percent somewhat or strongly oppose such measures. Two percent of respondents said they weren’t sure whether they supported or opposed such a requirement.
There was some variation across demographics and geographies, with respondents identifying as women, Democrats and those leaning toward the Democratic Party and urban residents more likely to support a requirement that unvaccinated students wear masks in K-12 schools.
Among subgroups of respondents:
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Vaccines in the workplace
Since COVID-19 vaccines became available last year, an increasing number of Minnesota employers are requiring workers to be vaccinated to be in the workplace. (Employers are legally permitted to mandate vaccinations; we’re keeping a list of employers that have done so here.)
When it comes to employers’ right or obligation to mandate vaccinations in the workplace, 39 percent of respondents said businesses should not be allowed to require vaccines, even if employees are working together indoors; 35 percent said businesses should require vaccinations if employees are working together indoors and 23 percent said employers should have the discretion to mandate vaccines or not. Three percent said they weren’t sure.
Again, these numbers similarly vary based on demographics, geography and political affiliation.
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Additional results can be found here.
Poll methodology
The poll was conducted from August 28 to 31 and respondents included 1,945 registered voters.
Change Research’s online polling methodology uses targeted social media ads and text messages to recruit respondents. The organization has a B- pollster rating from FiveThirtyEight.
The company uses a “modeled” margin of error, which it says accounts for the effects of weighting the poll (or making adjustments to better reflect the state’s demographics). The results were weighted on age, gender, race/ethnicity, 2020 vote, education, and region. The modeled margin of error for the statewide sample was +/- 2.5 percentage points. The margin of error for women is +/- 3.3 percentage points. For men it is +/- 3.7 percentage points. The margin of error for Democrats and leaners is +/- 3.7 percentage points. For Republicans and leaners it is +/- 3.7 percentage points. The margin of error for geographies are rural: +/- 3.8 percentage points, suburban: +/- 4.2 percentage points; urban, +/- 5 percentage points.
Rural/suburban/urban distinctions are based on GreatData classifications.
More information on the methodology can be found here.
Keep an eye on MinnPost in the coming days for more reporting on the poll.
Note: The margins of error in this story have been updated to use the modeled margin of error.
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Well, this certainly paints a clear picture of where we as a people stand politically. Masks are known to be very helpful in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and 54% of the people recognize this. But all those other people, the non-54%, who may or may not recognize the benefits of masking, nevertheless have bees in their bonnets about that inconvenient truth. Why can we not come together over the science of this?
These are the folks who have brought us this most recent party, the Delta Doldrums. Why did you bring us here?
‘Twould appear that significant numbers of Republicans, both urban and rural, and mostly male, have lost their minds, if the poll is to be believed. Maybe, with extraordinary good luck, it will turn out that the polling methodology is so flawed as to render the result more or less insignificant.
Lacking that, however, the philosophical position of these people boils down to “I’d rather die than receive a safe, proven vaccine that would save my life, and in the process, the lives of others, and would cost me nothing beyond the minor inconvenience of a needle stick. I don’t mind being killed by, or killing, my neighbors, parents, grandparents, children, nephews and nieces, or any random strangers with whom I might come in contact.” The malevolent selfishness and irrationality of this position is one I usually associate with the Medieval. Truly, the barbarians are at the gates.
This was a very poorly constructed, administered, and reported survey. How do I know? I have a doctorate and conducted and contracted with research companies to conduct surveys for over 20 years. If you read the fine print on the survey methods, you will see that there was no randomization to select respondents. That is equivalent to building a large home on a foundation of toothpicks. another example: Kaul says xx% of people in MN believe in using masks and xx% don’t, leading you to believe she surveyed the entire population. Only much later do you see that those statements were only projections based on samples (not chosen through random selection) that did not provide everyone in the state an equal chance of being chosen.
Plus, Survey Monkey was used. No legitimate research company uses Survey Monkey. It is a rudimentary option for informal efforts. It does not allow for branching, in which those providing a particular response are ‘branched’ into a set of items not designed for those offering a different response. It is not ‘secure’ from in trust on by outsiders. I would love to see the actual survey items (questions).
Sadly, this was an effort to spend the most minimal amount of money and still report something. I am not saying it was slanted. I am saying it was amateurish and not representative. If submitted by a student, it would flunk!
How else can you spin your results if you use nonsense for a polling method? Garbage in, garbage out. Thanks for pointing out the facts on how the poll was done.
You make it sound like you discovered fire or something here. Survey Monkey is cheaper and less accurate poll, but its not invalid. Those numbers seem consistent with other polls.
The key here is ‘mandate’. What is the government and the courts going to allow. The republicans believe in limited government, the democrats do not. This issue, or any issue, its the same answer.
It really depends if you like freedom. Democrats want freedom. Republicans want full hospitals, closed businesses and remote learning in schools.
Nope. The Republicans hate freedom. They hate jobs and business. That’s why the economy performs better under Democratic leadership. The Republicans elected a president who inherited a fortune and squandered it demonstrating his utter incompetence as a businessman. Republicans just seem to like losers and failures.
Republicans try to restrict LGBT rights. Republicans make it harder to vote. In Texas, Republicans just passed a law restricting womens control over their own bodies. Republicans absolutely love giving the government control over the most personal aspects of peoples lives. Because Republicans hate freedom.
We could be free of Covid if everyone got vaccinated. But again, Republicans hate freedom. They want this to control our lives indefinitely.
Pat, this is where the term: “Fascism” comes in handy. It’s easy and obvious to simply point out the inherent contradiction of fascists pretending to be champions of “freedom”. What do you call Republicans who don’t believe in freedom, democracy, and human rights? Fascists works for me.
This is a strange conversation because no one is disputing that vaccinated folks are getting and spreading COViD as much as non vaccinated folks. The vaccine doesn’t stop Delta variant and that is what being spread now. What would an employer get from demanding a vaccine?
An employee who doesn’t lose time because they are sick, perhaps? Not all employers regard their employees as fungible commodities.
Masks are probably the best defense against the Delta variant. How do we feel about that requirement?
No one is discussing that because every word you have just said is completely false. You can still get and spread Delta if you are vaccinated, but it reduces the transmission and the seriousness of the infection.
Employers are nuts not to mandate vaccines. Insurance companies are going to drive more and more companies to do so.
“What would an employer get from demanding a vaccine?”
The benefit would be keeping employees out of the hospital and the grave.
Wrong. Per MDH, unvaccinated folks are 5 times more likely to becoming infected but 29 times
More likely to be hospitalized
Those who are vaccinated who have a breakthrough infection , shed virus 10 days less than non vaccinated.
Wrong Joe…. Again. Unvaccinated people are the primary drivers of this forth wave of infection and they ARE getting infected and spreading it more so than vaccinated people. For example In a recent outbreak at a wedding, a single unvaccinated child who was sick with COID 19 infected a couple dozen people. Of those infected, the infection rate for vaccinated people was 40% while the rate for unvaccinated was 80%, basically double.
Well I think the A part was masks yes masks no. Seems pretty clear cut, or are folks saying the anti-maskers are really lefties disguised as righties? We know they work, folks have used masks for centuries, but then again seems some folks are living before the invention of a mask. The Vaccine works, especially against severe symptoms, no one said it prevented you from being contagious, don’t try to disguise being in the ICU for 6 weeks, as being the same as having to spend a few days at home in bed. On the democrat vs. republican, there is a difference between risk adverse and stupidity adverse. Why wear seat belts, have cars with air bags, speed limits, where steel toed shoes, hard hats, belt guards, etc. etc. guess all those steel workers, construction workers foundry workers etc. etc. are all a bunch of woosies?
No we won’t be free of covidnif we are all vaccinate d. But it would be much much less of a problem.
Until world wide there is no longer susceptible populations it will.be here.
Isreal has a high vaccinated.pop but nowhas an outbreak/ surge.
Park Rapids and Nevis school board meetings up here in Crimson country were packed when indignant Trumpers flooded school board meetings putting pressure on board members in these small communities with veiled threats should they adopt masking for students. The boards buckled under to the insolents and in essence let whatever could happen be.
Check back in several weeks as these same school boards will be scrambling to find a way to keep their schools open as the covid cases rise among their students and staff.
Public opinion does not outweigh the legal aspect of the mandates.
What is your legal theory why an employer (public or private) cannot legally mandate its employees get a scientifically and governmentally-approved vaccination against a deadly highly transmissible virus/disease? Thanks!
The legal principle of “if I don’t wanna, I don’t have to!” It’s an argument that has been advanced by toddlers for decades, but is now finding a new currency amongst the American right wing.
The idea that this is some kind of civil rights moment in history would be comical if it weren’t killing people, but there it is. And the fact that this complete disregard for the lives and wellbeing of others emerges from our erstwhile champions of “life” just adds another layer of perverse irony. Whatever.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we’re not going to convince stupid people to be smart, and you can’t train stupid adults to actually BE smart… so we’ll just have to mandate our way out of this pandemic.
One thing that we should also be looking at is making those who “choose” testing over vaccination should be doing so on their own dime. We shouldn’t be subsidizing stupid, specially stupid that’s killing people. If you want to opt out of a free vaccine whatever, but we’re not paying for your weekly tests.