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Update: American Public Opinion and Vaccination Requirements
Politics

Update: American Public Opinion and Vaccination Requirements

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Story Highlights

  • 61% of Americans favor vaccination requirements for air travel
  • 53% in the U.S. support them for dining in a restaurant
  • 56% favor these requirements at their office or work site

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Majorities of Americans now favor requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to travel by airplane, stay in a hotel, attend events with large crowds, dine in a restaurant and go to their office or work site.

Would you favor or oppose businesses requiring people to show proof of coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination in order to do the following over the next several months?
Apr 2021 May 2021 Aug 2021
% % %
Travel by airplane
Favor 57 60 61
Oppose 43 40 39
Stay in a hotel
Favor 44 48 53
Oppose 56 52 47
Attend events with large crowds
Favor 55 54 58
Oppose 45 46 42
Dine in a restaurant
Favor 40 44 53
Oppose 60 56 47
Go to office or work site
Favor N/A N/A 56
Oppose N/A N/A 44
Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel

The most recent update of these questions is from an Aug. 16-22 survey included in Â鶹´«Ã½AV's ongoing COVID-19 probability-based web panel. There has been little change since April in views of vaccination requirements for airplanes and attending events. Opinions about staying in hotels and dining in restaurants have shifted. In April, majorities of Americans were opposed to vaccination requirements for hotels and dining; now, majorities are in favor.

These views are not universally held, however, reflecting divisions in public opinion on many of the issues surrounding COVID. The percentages of Americans in favor of vaccination requirements range from 53% to 61% across the five situations tested, leaving a nontrivial 39% to 47% who are opposed. In short, if it came to a national referendum, these vaccination proof requirements would win -- but with significant opposition.

Vaccination Status and Attitudes Toward Vaccination Requirements

One of the predictable, but important, divisions in opinions on vaccination requirements is current vaccination status. Those who report having personally been vaccinated -- 69% of U.S. adults have gotten at least one dose, according to Â鶹´«Ã½AV's latest polling -- are much more likely in turn to favor vaccination requirements.

Attitudes Toward Vaccination Requirements, by Vaccination Status
Would you favor or oppose businesses requiring people to show proof of coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination in order to do the following over the next several months?
Vaccinated Unvaccinated
% %
Travel by airplane
Favor 79 24
Oppose 21 76
Stay in a hotel
Favor 69 20
Oppose 31 80
Attend events with large crowds
Favor 76 22
Oppose 24 78
Dine in a restaurant
Favor 68 21
Oppose 32 79
Go to office or work site
Favor 72 22
Oppose 28 78
Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel, Aug. 16-22, 2021

The relationship between vaccination status and attitudes about vaccination requirements, however, is by no means perfect. As seen in the accompanying table, between 20% and 32% of Americans give seemingly contradictory opinions -- vaccinated people who say there should be no vaccination requirements to do these activities, and unvaccinated people who say there should be. Apparently, for a number of Americans, the personal decision to get vaccinated is independent of their views on whether such actions should be required by businesses and employers.

Democrats Overwhelmingly Favor Vaccination Proof; Republicans Oppose

Americans' political identity is strongly related to their opinions about vaccine requirements, echoing similar partisan differences on such issues as vaccination hesitancy, mask requirements and the importance of COVID-19 as the nation's top problem. Very large majorities of Democrats are in favor of each of the five vaccination requirements tested, while slightly smaller, but still substantial, majorities of Republicans are opposed to each. Independents are more evenly divided, although majorities of independents are opposed to four of the situations, with a precise 50/50 split in opinions about requiring vaccinations for air travel.

Attitudes Toward Vaccination Requirements, by Political Identity
Would you favor or oppose businesses requiring people to show proof of coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination in order to do the following over the next several months?
Democrats Independents Republicans
% % %
Travel by airplane
Favor 92 50 29
Oppose 8 50 71
Stay in a hotel
Favor 83 42 23
Oppose 17 58 77
Attend events with large crowds
Favor 90 48 25
Oppose 10 52 75
Dine in a restaurant
Favor 85 41 21
Oppose 15 59 79
Go to office or work site
Favor 88 43 24
Oppose 12 57 76
Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel, Aug. 16-22, 2021

Americans' mindsets about vaccine requirements are clearly related to both their underlying partisan orientation and their personal decisions about getting the vaccine. Thus, subgroups of Americans defined by the combination of both of these variables are particularly differentiated in their opinions.

The variation across these party/vaccination status groups is extreme. For example, 96% of vaccinated Democrats favor the requirement for proof of vaccination before flying on an airplane, compared with 12% of unvaccinated Republicans. Ninety-four percent of vaccinated Democrats favor the requirement for attendance at events, compared with 9% of unvaccinated Republicans. Still, vaccinated Democrats, independents and Republicans are in all instances more positive about vaccine requirements than those in each political group who are not vaccinated. And Democrats and Republicans, despite some variation by vaccination status, remain poles apart in their views -- with majorities of Democrats, regardless of vaccination status, approving of all five vaccination requirements and more than half of Republicans, regardless of vaccination status, disapproving.

There appear to be some variations in the relative impact of partisanship and vaccination status across party groups. Independents are by definition less tethered to a political identity than Democrats or Republicans, and independents' vaccination status is more strongly related to views on vaccination requirements than is the case for the other two groups.

Attitudes Toward Vaccination Requirements, by Political Identity and Vaccination Status
Would you favor or oppose businesses requiring people to show proof of coronavirus/COVID-19 vaccination in order to do the following over the next several months?
Vaccinated Democrats Unvaccinated Democrats Vaccinated independents Unvaccinated independents Vaccinated Republicans Unvaccinated Republicans
% % % % % %
Travel by airplane
Favor 96 66 69 19 48 12
Oppose 4 34 31 81 52 88
Stay in a hotel
Favor 87 56 58 17 39 9
Oppose 13 44 42 83 61 91
Attend events with large crowds
Favor 94 63 66 19 42 9
Oppose 6 37 34 81 58 91
Dine in a restaurant
Favor 88 62 55 17 35 9
Oppose 12 38 45 83 65 91
Go to office or work site
Favor 92 63 59 17 38 10
Oppose 8 37 41 83 62 90
Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel, Aug. 16-22, 2021

Bottom Line

At this point, the actual implementations of proof of vaccination requirements across the five situations tested in this research are widely varied. Most U.S. airlines are not yet requiring proof of vaccination, nor are most hotels or dining establishments. But a number of indoor events are requiring proof of vaccination or a recent COVID test for attendance, and increasing numbers of businesses are requiring vaccinations for their workers.

The most significant implication of these attitudinal data for businesses and companies contemplating vaccination requirements is the finding that such measures will by no means be greeted with universal approval. A significant minority of Americans and U.S. workers oppose such moves, and many of those do so strongly, although obviously the particular customers or workers involved in each situation will make a big difference in determining the precise level of opposition. Airlines will have a marginally easier time putting such requirements in place -- hotels and dining establishments, somewhat less so.

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