In one of the most conservative counties in the state, Escambia County voters believe face masks should be mandatory throughout the county. According to the latest Inweekly/Political Matrix poll of 865 Escambia County residents, 72.4% support the county mandating the wearing of face masks, with 27.6% being against the idea.
Support for mandating masks is across all five county commission districts. The districts of Doug Underhill (D2), Luman May (D3) and Robert Bender (D4) Â had over 70% in favor of mandatory face masks
Do you think the county should mandate wearing a mask when you are not able to participate in social distancing?
| Responses | Total | % |
| Yes | 626 | 72.4% |
| No | 239 | 27.6% |
| District 1 | District 2 | District 3 | District 4 | District 5 | |
| Bergosh | Underhill | May | Bender | Barry | |
| Yes | 67.1% | 71.1% | 79.3% | 77.8% | 63.2% |
| No | 32.9% | 28.9% | 20.7% | 22.2% | 36.8% |
The poll found that 69.1% said they always wear a face mask when they can’t social distance. Additionally, 12.1% said they wear them most of the time and 8.6% saying some of the time they wear the mask.
Do you wear a face mask in public when you can’t social distance?
| Responses | Total | % |
| Always | 598 | 69.1% |
| Most of the time | 105 | 12.1% |
| Sometimes | 74 | 8.6% |
| None of the time | 88 | 10.2% |
Less than a third of employers are requiring workers to wear face masks
If you are working, does your employer require you to wear a mask?
| Responses | Total | % |
| Always | 273 | 31.6% |
| Most of the time | 74 | 8.6% |
| Sometimes | 58 | 6.7% |
| None of the time | 148 | 17.1% |
| I’m not working | 312 | 36.1% |
For two-thirds of the respondents, it’s extremely important that restaurant employees wear masks.
When you enter a restaurant, how important is it to you that the employees are wearing a mask?
| Total | % | |
|
Extremely Important
|
583 | 67.4% |
|
Very important
|
84 | 9.7% |
|
Important
|
54 | 6.2% |
|
Not important
|
84 | 9.7% |
|
Very unimportant
|
34 | 3.9% |
|
Extremely unimportant
|
24 | 2.8% |
The same went for other retail situations.
When you enter a convenient store, grocery store, or other retail establishment, how important is it to you that the employees are wearing a mask?
| Total | % | |
|
Extremely Important
|
583 | 67.4% |
|
Very important
|
94 | 10.9% |
|
Important
|
59 | 6.8% |
|
Not important
|
81 | 9.4% |
|
Very unimportant
|
20 | 2.3% |
|
Extremely unimportant
|
28 | 3.2% |
METHODOLOGY:
The persons sampled were Escambia County registered voters. The voters called had cell phones and landlines and were called using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system  during the hours of 5PM to 8PM between June 26-28, 2020. The Margin of Error for this study is +/ 3.5% with a confidence level of 95%.