A special Roy Morgan survey looking at Australian attitude towards Covid-19 mandates reveals most Australians support mask-wearing, border closures and are willing to be vaccinated against the virus.
The survey, which was conducted with an Australian-wide cross-section of 1,234 Australians aged 18 plus, on 14-15 January 2021, reveals that 72% of Australians say mask-wearing should be compulsory and 68% don’t want State borders to be completely open.
Additionally, 77% of those surveyed say they are willing to be vaccinated if a new Covid-19 vaccine became publicly available.
“A clear majority of 72% of Australians support compulsory mask-wearing with support highest in two States with the highest number of Covid-19 cases – NSW (80%) and Victoria (77%),” says Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, adding that it’s not a surprise that support for mask-wearing is “much lower in all other States”.
“When it comes to the opening of State borders, the view of Australians tends to align with their respective State Governments,” adds Ms Levine.
“NSW has had the most open border policy through the Covid-19 pandemic and only closed its borders’ once – when daily cases of Covid-19 ballooned through 100 in early July.
“In NSW a slim majority of 55% of respondents are against all State borders being completely open today.”
Ms Levine says that “at the other end of the spectrum people in the two States with the most restrictive border policies are most in favour of keeping State borders closed”.
“A large majority of 85% of West Australians and 79% of Tasmanians don’t want State borders completely open today,” she says.
When it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine, Ms Levine says that the results of the survey reveal that the “good news is a clear majority of 77% of Australians say they will be vaccinated when the vaccine becomes publicly available”.
“This support is strong across all sections of the community, including both genders, people of all ages, supporters of different political parties and in every State and Territory,” says Ms Levine.
