A new Pew Research Center survey finds that a clear majority of Americans remain confident that childhood vaccines prevent serious illness, but support among Republican voters has weakened significantly.
Key findings
Overall, 63% of respondents said they are extremely or very confident in the effectiveness of childhood vaccines; 21% said they were "somewhat" confident, and 11% said the vaccines are not too or not at all effective. A majority also said vaccines protect vaccinated children (69%) and help protect the broader population (65%).
Partisan differences
The poll reveals a sharp partisan split: 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults are extremely or very confident in childhood vaccines, compared with 48% of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults. Confidence that vaccines have undergone sufficient safety testing is lower overall (53%), and only 51% trust that the recommended vaccine schedule is safe. Among Democrats, 74% say testing has been adequate and 71% say the schedule is safe; among Republicans, those figures fall to 35% and 32%, respectively.
MMR vaccine and school requirements
Support for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine remains strong across parties—92% of Democrats and 78% of Republicans back the vaccine—but Republican backing has declined from 91% in 2016. Notably, Republican support for MMR school requirements has dropped from 79% in 2019 to 52% in the latest survey.
"Still, Americans' positive views on the MMR vaccine have largely held since we first started asking about this in 2016," the pollsters said. "A solid majority (84%) says its benefits outweigh its risks. And seven-in-ten say the vaccine's preventative health benefits are high or very high, while just 15% say the same about the risk of side effects."
Who should shape vaccine policy?
When asked who should play a prominent role in shaping childhood vaccine policy, 73% of Americans said medical scientists should be key contributors and 59% said parents of young children should have a major role. Opinions again split by party: 85% of Democrats versus 62% of Republicans want scientists involved in decision-making, while 71% of Republicans (compared with 46% of Democrats) say parents should play a key role.
Survey details: The Pew Research Center conducted the survey Oct. 20–26 with 5,111 respondents. The margin of sampling error is ±1.7 percentage points.
Source: Pew Research Center survey data.
