UNH Poll Shows Granite Staters Divided On Removal Of Mask Mandate

By Andrew Mahaleris, NH Journal

A new poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center finds Granite Staters evenly divided on Governor Chris Sununu allowing the state’s mask mandate to expire last Friday.

While 48 percent of respondents said they oppose Sununu’s decision to drop the mandate — 38 percent strongly — another 43 percent support the move, 34 percent strongly.

The UNH Survey Center sampled 1,942 Granite State Panel members between April 16-20, and it has a margin of error of 2.2 percent.

The UNH Survey Center sampled 1,942 Granite State Panel members between April 16-20, and it has a margin of error of 2.2 percent.

The survey found Republicans are overwhelmingly in favor of lifting the mandate, with 79 percent in support, while Democrats are vehemently against it with 83 percent opposed. Only 7 percent of Democrats are supportive of the move, with 14 percent of Republicans opposed.

Independent voters, the largest voting bloc in New Hampshire, are split down the middle with 45 percent opposed, and 45 percent in support of removing the restriction.

Sununu’s announcement that he was allowing the mask mandate to expire came on the same day news broke that a data analysis found New Hampshire is the safest state in the nation in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, based largely on its vaccine rollout.

As the New York Times continues to report, New Hampshire has been the most successful state at putting shots into arms, with 59 percent of the population given at least one dose as of Monday and 95 percent of the available vaccine supply distributed.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.