# Republicans Ban School Mask Mandates **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 30, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-ban-school-mask-mandates/949789 "2021-08-30T18:06:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-ban-school-mask-mandates/949789/13 "2021-08-31T16:29:33Z")
So the original impetus for this topic was to separate the school mask mandate politics from the Republican War on Voting topic. From that topic, > [@The Republican War on Voting Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/573): > > Abbott’s policies on mask mandates and vaccinations are deeply unpopular with the general public Whoever was standing in for Chris Cuomo two Fridays ago (8/20) on SXM POTUS went into this. At the time a new Axios/Ipsos poll came out showing most Americans support school mask mandates. The host & guest wondered why Republican governors would go against broad public opinion, and to be honest that’s something I wonder about too. It’s not like Greg Abbott came to power with Trump. I don’t think his base == Trump’s base. He’s part of the old guard, having been appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Bush II in the '90s, serving as Texas AG under Rick Perry, and being governor since 2014 (pre-Trump). He’s up for re-election in 2022 and will probably face stiff competition, having only a 55.8% majority in 2018 and being thoroughly controversial today. So my questions, in search of Gov. Abbott’s rationale, are: 1. Do the majority of _Texans_ support school mask mandates? 2. Do the majority of _Texas Republicans_ support school mask mandates? 3. Why, just why is Gov. Abbott doing this? _What’s in it for him_? In the case of DeSantis we have at least the (admittedly conspiracy-esque) theory that one of his big political donors wants more people in the hospital because (s)he has a stake in some antibody treatment… ~Max --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-ban-school-mask-mandates/949789)._