Most Americans don't want mask mandates to return – but Democrats do, poll shows

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Democrats support the reinstituting or continuation of COVID-19 mask mandates, despite the majority of Americans saying they oppose the idea, a new poll says.

A Monmouth University poll released Monday asked respondents whether they "support or oppose instituting, or reinstituting, face mask and social distancing
guidelines" in their state at the current time. Sixty percent of Democrats said they support it, compared with 12% of Republicans.

FAUCI: AMERICANS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR NEW COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

Overall, only 34% of respondents said they support continued mask mandates, while 62% said they oppose.

A "Masks Required" sign greets travelers as they check in for a Delta Airlines flight at the Miami International Airport on Feb. 1, 2021, in Florida.

The vast majority of Americans, 73%, also agree with the sentiment that "it’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives," which is up three percentage points since the same question was asked in January.

"We asked the same question about accepting COVID is here to stay two months ago and got a similarly high number who want to get on with life," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "Our working hypothesis was that many people who support mandates simply wanted consistency in the guidelines. This new data suggests that is not necessarily the case. For some Americans, getting on with life means constantly being on guard and ready to reinstitute restrictions as new situations emerge."

The poll comes after White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that Americans "need to be prepared for the possibility" of restrictions being put back into place due to the spread of the BA.2 omicron sub-variant.

Dr. Anthony Fauci participates in the White House COVID-19 Response Team's regular call with the National Governors Association from the White House campus on Dec. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Fauci cautioned that the "same conditions" that appear to be driving the resurgence of cases in Europe are happening in the U.S. 

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"It's the greater transmissibility of the BA.2, it's the relaxation of restriction, particularly in the context of indoor masking in congregate settings, and also the fact that immunity, due to both vaccination as well as people who have been previously infected, tends to wane with SARS-CoV-2 – particularly with omicron," he said. 

Monmouth's poll was conducted among 809 respondents, from March 10-14, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points. 

Fox News' Julia Musto contributed to this report.