Why feelings about wearing a mask are often tied to political beliefs

When it comes to politics, people see what they want to see.  

Take, for example, how the public feels about the government's response to the coronavirus. Forty-eight percent of voters believe private businesses should be allowed to decide whether or not their customers are required to wear masks, according to Scott Rasmussen's Daily Number. 

There's a strong partisan divide on this question. By a 64 percent to 32 percent margin, Republican voters believe businesses should set the rules for their customers. By a 57 percent to 38 percent margin, Democrats disagree and say businesses should not be allowed to do so. Independent voters are evenly divided.

How can people see the same thing and think about it differently?

That's the topic of a new podcast called Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day.

Rasmussen says to help understand what that number means, we can take a lesson from Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull in his book Creativity, Inc.

Catmull suggests that while we all have the ability to think creatively, we see only about 40 percent of what our brain is processing. The rest,  about 60 percent, is what we expect to see.

Have a listen and subscribe today to Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day.