You may have seen a report in the Journal.ie earlier today which said a poll had shown that “79% of people in favour of mandatory mask-wearing in public settings.” The poll, which was commissioned by the Journal.ie and was carried out by RedC, asked members of the public if they would support mask-wearing being made mandatory in various settings.
Whilst the results of the polling are legitimately interesting the poll does not actually show that 79% of people are in favour of mandatory mask-wearing in public settings. The journal has taken people who said they wanted to see mask-wearing made mandatory in, for instance, healthcare settings (72%), and said that these people are in favour of mandatory mask-wearing in all public settings, a much, much broader statement.
So here is what the Journal did to construct this 79% figure. They had RedC ask people if they supported mask-wearing being made mandatory in ten different settings, from healthcare to schools, or if they “don’t want to see masks made mandatory in any setting.” They then took everyone who said they would like mask-wearing to be mandatory in any setting, combined those groups together, and declared that anyone who favoured mandatory mask-wearing in any specific public setting(s) actually favoured mandatory mask-wearing in all public settings.
That is not what the poll shows; it’s not close to what the poll shows. It is fact deeply misleading to present the poll as showing that. The headline does most of the damage, but the article itself repeats the headline and then, in paragraph two, goes on to say that “79% of people feel that face masks should be mandatory in any public settings.” That sentence is likely going to be read by general readers of the Journal as if it is saying that 79% of people want mask-wearing mandatory in all public settings, whilst it actually means 79% of people want mask-wearing mandatory in at least one type of public setting. That’s presumably an accidental phrasing, rather than a bait and switch, but it would be absolutely fair for a reader of the Journal to feel misled by it.
What the polling actually says is that 79% of those polled believe mask-wearing should be made mandatory in at least one setting which, presuming the polling was representative, and RedC are pretty good at this, would indicate most people support mask-wearing in at least one public setting. 72% of people, for instance, wanted to see wearing masks in healthcare settings made mandatory. But only 40% of people feel the same way about mask-wearing in shops, and only 26% felt the same about mask-wearing in educational settings.