In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. And among those diseases could be COVID-19.
Unfortunately, Republican politicians and conservative media figures are increasingly joining up with the anti-vaxxers. Even before COVID, they were fighting vaccine mandates and other public health measures.
The anti-vax movement has a great deal of overlap with MAGA, QAnon, and old-school conspiracy theories.
Trump last night:
Trump: . I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate.. pic.twitter.com/A9xn7NQbEh
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 10, 2024
Fewer Americans today consider childhood vaccines important, with 40% saying it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019 and 64% in 2001. There has been a similar decline in the combined “extremely” and “very important” percentage, which was 94% in 2001 but sits at 69% today.
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The declining belief in the importance of vaccines is essentially confined to Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, as the views of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have changed little over the past 24 years. Twenty-six percent of Republicans and Republican leaners -- half as many as in 2019 -- believe it is extremely important for parents to get their children vaccinated. In the initial Gallup poll on vaccinations, Republicans and Republican leaners (62%) held similar views to Democrats and Democratic leaners (66%); the two groups now differ by 37 percentage points.
A slim majority of Republicans and Republican leaners (52%) now say it is either extremely or very important for parents to get their children vaccinated. That compares with 93% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Eleven percent of Republicans and Republican leaners do not think it is important at all for children to be vaccinated.
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- Thirty-six percent of Republicans and Republican leaners believe the government should require vaccines, compared with 53% in 2019. Most Republicans, 60%, now oppose government vaccine mandates.
- Democrats’ views on the matter have shown no meaningful change -- 69% believe this now, and 72% did so in 2019.
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Until now, Republicans and Democrats generally held similar views of the net risks and benefits associated with vaccines. Today, 31% of Republicans and Republican leaners think vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they are designed to prevent, compared with 5% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. The current figure for Republicans is up from 12% in 2019 and 6% in 2001.
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One of the controversies surrounding vaccinations is a supposed link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. The original research behind that alleged link has been discredited. Still, 13% of U.S. adults believe certain vaccines can cause autism, up from 6% in 2015 and 10% in 2019. About half of Americans are unsure if vaccines cause autism, while 36% say they are not a cause.
As might be expected given their views on vaccines, Republicans and Republican leaners (19%) are much more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners (4%) to say vaccines can cause autism. Whereas a majority of Democrats say vaccines are not a cause of autism, a majority of Republicans are unsure.
