Wearing a Mask Is Trending Up
Americans on average self-report wearing a mask 83% of the time in public and seeing almost three-quarters of their fellow Americans doing the same
a COVID-19 Data Project feature
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Self-reported and observed mask-wearing percentages have increased over the last two months and are at their highest levels since last summer. This follows a drop in self-reported mask-wearing during the fall that was below 80 percent. The 10-point difference between self-reporting and observation is about the average difference between the two.
Women wear masks more than men
When we breakout mask wearing by gender, women continue to self-report wearing a mask more often than men, 87 percent to 80 percent, with the difference between the two remaining about the same as it has been since last summer.
At the same time, when we look at the observation of others, from men and women’s point of view, there is no difference in their observation of mask wearing. That’s consistent with our previous data.
Three Quarters of Americans wear a mask most of the time
When we look at the breakdown of self-reported mask-wearing, it reveals that 74 percent of Americans report wearing a mask most of the time (between 80-100 percent of the time). As reported in the average, there is a noticeable difference in the breakdown among men and women, particularly when it comes to wearing a mask most of the time.
Remember, Americans said that on average, about three-quarters of people they see in public wear a mask. When looking at the breakdown, we see that half of Americans say other people wear masks almost all of the time, and 76 percent say other people wear a mask most of the time.
Just 5 percent say they rarely see other people not wearing masks.
Increase in mask wearing is likely due to more younger Americans doing it
Older Americans have always reported a higher consistency of mask wearing compared to those under the age of 65. However, over the last two months, we’ve seen an increase among both younger age groups.
Americans under the age of 45 increased from 67.4 percent to 81.1 percent. Middle-aged Americans (between the ages of 45 – 64) increased from 79.5 percent to 84.4 percent.
Differences in age groups apparent when looking at the numbers
The breakdown of responses shows a similar picture to what we see in the averages with 65+ Americans wearing masks almost all of the time, while the rate drops precipitously as you move down the age scale.
Nearly seven in ten Americans under 45 are still wearing masks most of the time, but the ratio of 50-79 percent of the time to 80-100 percent of the time is much higher for the younger cohort.
Hispanic Americans self-report a significant increase in mask wearing
Last month, we saw a trendline that looked like White Americans were moving toward wearing masks more often than Black or Hispanic Americans. However, since then, we’ve seen a significant shift among Black and Hispanic Americans. Currently, Hispanic Americans self-report wearing a mask, on average, almost 94 percent of the time. Again, this is self-reported, but the increase is notable.
Black and Hispanic Americans report Low ‘mask-less’ use
When we look at the breakdown of self-reported mask-wearing, there is only a small percentage of Hispanic Americans who report wearing a mask less than half of the time. Almost 15 percent of Black and White Americans report the same. Seven percent (7%) of White Americans say they hardly wear a mask at all, compared to 2% of Black Americans and 1% of Hispanic Americans.
Biden voters wear a mask more than Trump voters … but both report similar behavior around them
One thing that Biden and Trump voters can generally agree on when it comes to masks is their observation of mask-wearing. Both groups say that roughly 8 in 10 Americans, on average, wear masks in public.
However, that is where the agreement ends. Biden supporters on average wear masks 88.9 percent of the time, which is the lowest level since we started tracking in July. Trump voters on average report wearing a mask 80.1 percent. This is the smallest difference between the two groups since July.
A majority of both candidates’ supporters report wearing a mask all the time …
… although Trump supporters are four times as likely to not wear a mask at all
When it comes to self-reported mask-wearing, 15 percent of Trump voters say they wear a mask less than half of the time, compared to 7 percent of Biden voters. On the other end of the spectrum, 81 percent of Biden voters say that when they are in public, they wear a mask almost all the time in public while two-thirds (68 percent) of Trump voters who say the same thing.
Regarding the observation of others wearing a mask in public, around 85 percent of Biden and Trump voters say people wear masks over half of the time, but Trump voters observe people wearing masks over 80 percent of the time, 8 points higher than Biden voters.