A day after President Biden‘s controversial announcement of new vaccine mandates meant to fight COVID-19 comes polling that shows many Americans aren’t on board with the idea.
While the latest nationwide polling compiled by the SEAN COVID-19 Survey Archive shows eight in 10 Americans are now saying they’ve gotten vaccinated or will do so, the polling also reveals nine in 10 unvaccinated adults oppose employer-led workplace vaccine mandates.
When it comes to those who aren’t vaccinated — either because they’ve recovered from COVID-19 already and have natural immunity, or are otherwise hesitant to take the shot — fewer than two in 10 say they’d comply with an employer’s vaccine mandate.
According to the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, which was conducted before Biden’s Thursday speech, 72% percent of unvaccinated workers not currently facing a workplace mandate threaten to walk if faced with one.
Recent polling also revealed about seven in 10 unvaccinated adults “lack confidence in the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness,” and 90% see getting vaccinated as a “personal decision rather than a broader responsibility.”
That said, polling shows Americans are worrying about catching the virus more than they were in June, undoubtedly spurred by headlines about the Delta variant. Respondents say they’re eating out and seeing friends less frequently because of it.
Perhaps unsurprisingly. vaccinated are far more worried about catching COVID-19 than unvaccinated people, at a rate of 45% to 22%, according to ABC News’ poll.
According to the polling archive, six in 10 of those polled say they favor vaccine requirements for air travel and for large public events, and six in 10 favor vaccine requirement for school staff members. Two-thirds say they support state or local mandates in public places.