Whopping 65 Percent of Americans Disapprove of Trump Not Wearing Mask, and Even Most Republicans Are ‘Pro-Mask’

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images, OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump may have impressed Fox News’ Brit Hume by refusing to wear a mask in public, but a new poll shows that a whopping 65 percent of Americans disapprove of that decision, and even more describe themselves as “pro-mask.”

Never mind how America got to a point at which taking a medically recommended and life-saving precaution has become a culture war issue. It just has. But according to a new Global Strategy Group/Navigator Research poll, Trump and the mask-haters are getting their asses handed to them.

Respondents were actually asked, in this year of our Lord 2020, if they were “pro-mask” or “anti-mask,” and the masks won 74 percent to 18 — including 56 percent of Republicans. Trump, in addition to refusing to wear a mask in public, recently tarred those who adhere to the precaution as a desire to be “politically correct.”

Overall, 65 percent disapprove of Trump’s decision not to wear a face mask while in public, but Trump managed to keep 54 percent of Republicans in the boat on that question. Those who disapprove overwhelmingly (76%) cited as their reason that “Trump should be modeling good behavior and by not wearing masks, he is encouraging others to do the same, putting the health and safety of all of us at risk.”

That’s a very important finding, because the poll also showed 80 percent of Americans worried “other people are not following precautions, like wearing masks and social distancing, which will spread the virus.”

And 75 percent are worried about “Others who are infected with coronavirus getting you sick.”

That’s, like, a lot of percent. We’re in recommending sugarless gum territory.

Trump has weathered many an outrage, so time will tell how this will play out politically, but there’s at least one person who has apparently intuited the sentiments expressed in this poll. After Trump and Hume attacked Joe Biden over a photo depicting the ex-veep wearing a black mask and sunglasses on Memorial Day, he changed his Twitter profile picture to that exact photo.

And the durability of Trump’s support — which is looking very shaky lately — has always relied on a solid floor of around 35 percent. He’s still above that floor now, but the data in this poll features a deadly combination — that a. only 18 percent are on his side on the issue of masks, and b. the other side views this as a risk to their own personal health and safety.

The upside is that most Americans are taking the pandemic and the precautions very seriously. The downside is that the virus doesn’t care what you think, and 18 percent is enough to do a lot of spreading.