New Hampshire Megathread: Sherman in

[Calthrina950]

Truly amazing stuff, folks. After four years of screaming Orange Man Bad ad nauseam, you finally have a chance to attack Sununu's record...

and you throw it all away to embrace California-style Branch COVIDianism.

I am no COVID authoritarian (I got it eating out living my life!) but what is so objectionable about encouraging mask wearing indoors and vaccination? That’s all that article seemingly amounted to, which surprised me given your reaction

This goes far beyond encouraging mask-wearing and explicitly endorses a mask mandate. Berlin has had blanket mandates for a while, and Keene and Nashua just put them out as well. (Manchester doesn't really count, as the mandate applies to public buildings)

This is an unelectable and ridiculous position, considering we've been "back to normal" for nine months and been fine, even through the rise of Delta. Sununu's pandemic approval has been in the high 50s because of our return to normalcy. Bringing back mask mandates in response to the rise of a less dangerous variant is electoral poison.

You can't just try to shove the genie back in the bottle when he's been living fine outside it. I know I won't be the only one driven away by the "muh numbers" crowd.

It does astonish me how Democrats have tied themselves to mask mandates, and that they have done so in such an enthusiastic and vigorous manner. Of course, many Democratic voters strongly support mask mandates and have acquiesced to them with few or no problems. But mask mandates aren't the kind of policy that would appeal to independents, and they arouse the near-universal opposition of Republicans.

[Calthrina950]

Truly amazing stuff, folks. After four years of screaming Orange Man Bad ad nauseam, you finally have a chance to attack Sununu's record...

and you throw it all away to embrace California-style Branch COVIDianism.

I am no COVID authoritarian (I got it eating out living my life!) but what is so objectionable about encouraging mask wearing indoors and vaccination? That’s all that article seemingly amounted to, which surprised me given your reaction

This goes far beyond encouraging mask-wearing and explicitly endorses a mask mandate. Berlin has had blanket mandates for a while, and Keene and Nashua just put them out as well. (Manchester doesn't really count, as the mandate applies to public buildings)

This is an unelectable and ridiculous position, considering we've been "back to normal" for nine months and been fine, even through the rise of Delta. Sununu's pandemic approval has been in the high 50s because of our return to normalcy. Bringing back mask mandates in response to the rise of a less dangerous variant is electoral poison.

You can't just try to shove the genie back in the bottle when he's been living fine outside it. I know I won't be the only one driven away by the "muh numbers" crowd.

It does astonish me how Democrats have tied themselves to mask mandates, and that they have done so in such an enthusiastic and vigorous manner. Of course, many Democratic voters strongly support mask mandates and have acquiesced to them with few or no problems. But mask mandates aren't the kind of policy that would appeal to independents, and they arouse the near-universal opposition of Republicans.

That's not true - mask mandates have consistently been popular according to polling, with it usually being like 58/35-40 or something.

But mask mandates are becoming less popular over time, and support or opposition to them, as I've noted, is sharply polarized along partisan lines at this point, just as the CDC and Dr. Fauci are.

[Calthrina950]

Truly amazing stuff, folks. After four years of screaming Orange Man Bad ad nauseam, you finally have a chance to attack Sununu's record...

and you throw it all away to embrace California-style Branch COVIDianism.

I am no COVID authoritarian (I got it eating out living my life!) but what is so objectionable about encouraging mask wearing indoors and vaccination? That’s all that article seemingly amounted to, which surprised me given your reaction

This goes far beyond encouraging mask-wearing and explicitly endorses a mask mandate. Berlin has had blanket mandates for a while, and Keene and Nashua just put them out as well. (Manchester doesn't really count, as the mandate applies to public buildings)

This is an unelectable and ridiculous position, considering we've been "back to normal" for nine months and been fine, even through the rise of Delta. Sununu's pandemic approval has been in the high 50s because of our return to normalcy. Bringing back mask mandates in response to the rise of a less dangerous variant is electoral poison.

You can't just try to shove the genie back in the bottle when he's been living fine outside it. I know I won't be the only one driven away by the "muh numbers" crowd.

It does astonish me how Democrats have tied themselves to mask mandates, and that they have done so in such an enthusiastic and vigorous manner. Of course, many Democratic voters strongly support mask mandates and have acquiesced to them with few or no problems. But mask mandates aren't the kind of policy that would appeal to independents, and they arouse the near-universal opposition of Republicans.

That's not true - mask mandates have consistently been popular according to polling, with it usually being like 58/35-40 or something.

But mask mandates are becoming less popular over time, and support or opposition to them, as I've noted, is sharply polarized along partisan lines at this point, just as the CDC and Dr. Fauci are.

That's not true either - I've been following the weekly YouGov polls and mask mandates have been generally popular the entire time. People - outside of the typically irrational 30% or so - are not really that against them. If anything, with these variants popping up, it feels like masks themselves have become less polarized than they were before, and especially compared to vaccine mandates.

And lbr, Republicans will be against whatever measures are being implemented/proposed, so it's kind of a moot point

Well, you're correct that mask mandates have been generally popular throughout the pandemic, and that many people have obeyed them. But I still think you underestimate the extent to which this issue has become polarized at this point. It's probably accurate to say that-as with Dr. Fauci-Democrats support mask mandates, Republicans oppose them, and independents support them, but not as overwhelmingly as Democrats. This is to say nothing of the very divergent approach towards such mandates which have been taken by Democratic and Republican jurisdictions. Democratic jurisdictions, in many instances, continue to cling to them, while Republicans have gone so far as to ban them in some areas.

It also depends on where in the country you are located. Rural and small-town areas are far less supportive of mask mandates than large cities are. Nevertheless, I will say that there is a segment of the population that is just as ardently supportive of mask mandates as there are those who oppose them and would rather that such mandates continue in perpetuity. I certainly don't want to see such an outcome.