Americans Share Common Ground On Certain Vaccine Requirements: Poll

A new poll found that Americans hold differing views on requiring COVID-19 vaccines for certain activities, although most Americans can find common ground.

A new Politico/Harvard survey showed that “more than half (52%) of employed adults oppose employers requiring all their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before they can remain at or return to work.” Adults who are unemployed felt differently, however, with 65% of them saying that they support employers making people get vaccinated before returning to workplaces. The poll also found that this “differs from the view of the public as a whole (53% favor).”

The responses differed among various places of employment, as well. A majority of respondents (63%) said that they support public school teachers being vaccinated before coming back to school, with Democrats (75%) favoring that standard more than Republicans (56%), although it was still the majority opinion in both political parties. 

People also felt this way about healthcare workers — with the majority of Republicans (59%) and Democrats (74%) wanting them to be vaccinated before they stay at or come back to work. 

People felt the same about universities. A majority of Democrats (75%) and Republicans (51%) wanted all students, faculty, and staff to be vaccinated before coming back to campus. In addition, 56% of the total respondents also favored vaccination requirements for that category. 

According to Ballotpedia, several states, each with a Republican governor, have banned vaccination requirements through executive orders. Legislatures in 8 other states, which all have Republican governors, have all banned vaccine “passports” or vaccine requirements, as well.

Alternatively, California, New York, Hawaii, and Oregon — all states with Democrats in the executive role — “have facilitated the creation of digital vaccination status applications or proof-of-vaccination programs that allow fully vaccinated people to bypass some coronavirus restrictions.”

When it comes to day-to-day life, the poll found that a majority of Republicans and Democrats are against making customers show that they’ve been vaccinated in order to enter a store or a business. A majority of total respondents were also against requiring vaccination proof in order to go to sporting events, although along political lines Democrats differed with a minor 51% majority wanting it to be required.

Overall, a majority of Americans wanted people to have to show proof of vaccination before boarding domestic flights, international flights, and cruise ships. With cruise ships, though, Republicans were closely divided. 

In May, Biden announced that he was setting a goal “for 70% of the U.S. adult population to have one vaccine shot and 160 million U.S. adults to be fully vaccinated by July 4,” per a White House fact sheet.

The U.S. still hasn’t met that goal with CDC data showing that 67.6% of adults have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine and over 152 million Americans are fully vaccinated.

On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about local mandates.

CNN host Jake Tapper asked, “I know you have been very clear that the government isn’t mandating vaccines, but do you think it’s generally a good idea for businesses or schools to require vaccinations?”

Fauci said, “I have been of this opinion, and I remain of that opinion, that I do believe, at the local level, Jake, there should be more mandates. There really should be. We’re talking about a life-and-death situation. We have lost 600,000 Americans already, and we’re still losing more people.” 

“There have been four million deaths worldwide. This is serious business. So, I am in favor of that,” he added.

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