62% of Washington voters support prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings, NPI poll finds

More than three-fifths of likely 2026 voters in Washington State want the Legislature to ban law enforcement officers at every level — federal, state, and local — from wearing facial coverings while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties, with exceptions for select situations where officers need to wear gear like a respirator or a helmet for their own health and personal safety, the Northwest Progressive Institute’s latest Civic Heartbeat poll of the Evergreen State electorate has found.

62% of the 600 respondents interviewed by Emerson College Polling for NPI last week backed Senate Bill 5855, prime sponsored by Senator Javier Valdez, when we asked them about their views on it. 34% were opposed and 4% were not sure.

As of when this post was published, SB 5855 was being debated on the floor of the House of Representatives, with Republicans offering tons of amendments to weaken it. The bill cleared the Senate on a party-line vote in February, with every Democratic senator voting yea and every Republican senator voting nay. The bill has been amended, so it will go back to the Senate if it receives an absolute majority in the House today.

It was only a few years ago, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that many right wing Republicans were heaping scorn on anyone wearing a mask to protect themselves from the virus.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/03/62-of-washington-voters-support-prohibiting-law-enforcement-officers-from-wearing-facial-coverings-npi-poll-finds.html