About That Politico Vaccine Skepticism Poll
A Poll in which the majority thought that parents should be required to vaccinate their kids against dangerous diseases to protect them and their community...
Can you spot what’s wrong with Politico’s poll that supposedly found widespread vaccine skepticism among Americans?
No, it’s not that they are grossly misusing the phrase vaccine skepticism!
About That Politico Vaccine Skepticism Poll
After all, a true vaccine skeptic might question anything and everything about vaccines, but they aren’t going to fall for any of the misinformation from anti-vaccine influencers.
A true skeptic would see through their propaganda and would conclude that vaccines are safe, with few risks, and necessary.
So what’s wrong with Politico’s poll?
Which of the following comes closest to your view?
The science on vaccines is clear and it is damaging to question it
The facts on vaccines are still up for debate and it is damaging to enforce their uptakeThe Politico Poll - 2026 March - MAHA Vaccines
Well, for one thing, most of the reporting is on one question from the poll…
And that question had clear bias in the answers, with two extreme positions and leading language.
For example, instead of just having “the science on vaccines is clear” as an option for an answer, they just had to add the “and it is damaging to question it” part.
Why is that important?
Well, you might think that the science on vaccines is clear, and it is NOT damaging to question it.
And then there are all the poll questions and answers you likely haven’t heard as much about, including that:
republicans were twice as likely to be worried about vaccine side effects as democrats
a majority thought reducing vaccines was a view or core principal of the MAHA movement
only a minority supported reducing how many vaccines Americans receive
only a small minority thought that vaccines should be completely optional for school attendance
a majority thought that vaccine risks are overblown by skeptics and contribute to dangerous vaccine hesitancy or are very rare, and the benefits of vaccination far outweigh them for most people
a majority thought that parents should be required to vaccinate their kids against dangerous diseases to protect them and their community
a majority thought that Americans have a duty to be vaccinated to protect other Americans
most thought that the return of diseases, like measles, is not a risk worth taking regardless of whether people feel like it violates their freedom
What did we get instead of a report highlighting all of these poll questions and answers?
Lauren Gardner of Politico chose to interview a leading anti-vaccine influencer, Mary Holland. And republish quotes from Jay Bhattacharya.
As a reminder, those are the same folks who are overblowing the risks of vaccines and helping create the vaccine hesitancy we are seeing.