Poll: Overwhelming Majority Oppose Vaccine Mandates

A man receives a dose of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine at a v
JORGE GUERRERO/AFP via Getty Images

A majority of Americans oppose being forced or coerced into getting a vaccine for the Chinese coronavirus, a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey released this week found.

The survey asked respondents, “Do you believe taking COVID vaccines should be mandatory, or should taking the vaccine be a personal choice?”

Overall, 71.4 percent said vaccines should be a “personal choice,” 21.8 percent said they should be “mandatory,” and 6.8 percent remain unsure.

That general sentiment holds across party lines, as 58.7 percent of Democrats believe it should be a personal choice, as do 87.3 percent of Republicans and 67.2 percent of independent voters. However, one-third of Democrats, 33 percent, believe vaccines should be mandatory.

“These numbers reveal that hundreds of millions of social media messages, a constant stream of propaganda from the press, paid TV and radio ad campaigns coast-to-coast, daily hammering from Biden Administration officials, and cajoling from influencers and celebrities on every possible communication platform are having one profound effect on the public. It’s all backfiring, ” Mark Meckler, President of Convention of States Action, said in a statement.

“Americans have never taken kindly to being told what to do, and they are not going to start now. After being told ‘my body, my choice’ for nearly five decades by the same crowd now hypocritically pushing mandates, is it any wonder the public isn’t on board?” he added.

The survey, taken July 12-13, among 1,077 likely general election voters, has a margin of error of +/- 2.99 percent.

The survey follows the Biden administration indicating that it will be supportive of localities that choose to implement such mandates.

“That is not our intention from the federal government,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of a nationwide mask mandate, adding that if local governments “decide to make that [mandate] decision, we support them in that step.”

Some public health experts believe vaccine mandates could become more likely if the Food and Drug Administration formally approves the vaccines, which are currently operating under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

Nearly half of those who remain unvaccinated attribute their decision to a lack of trust in coronavirus vaccine development and concern over safety.

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