Americans worry about Trump's handling of measles outbreak, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Americans worry about the Trump administration's ability to contain an ongoing outbreak of measles, while the vast majority of them believe that vaccines for the disease are safe, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Just 31 percent of respondents in the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the administration is handling the measles outbreak responsibly, while 40 percent disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question.

The United States is currently facing its largest single outbreak of measles in 25 years, with the number of cases crossing the 1,000 mark last week.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine prevents 97 percent of cases after two doses and high adoption of the MMR vaccine resulted in the disease being declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000. Nonetheless, vaccination rates among U.S. children have fallen in recent years, which experts attribute to vaccine skepticism and misinformation.

Most Americans still see the MMR vaccine as safe. Some 86 percent of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said it was safe for children, a marginally higher share than the 84 percent who said the same in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May 2020, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 13 percent of respondents in the latest poll said the vaccine was not safe for kids, up from 10 percent five years earlier.

The latest poll, which surveyed 1,163 U.S. adults nationwide, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Infectious disease experts worry that comments from Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has offered mixed messages about the severity of the disease and the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, may further exacerbate vaccine hesitancy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who became the nation's top health official in February, says he is not opposed to vaccines, which he said are the best way to prevent measles.

Duty to vaccinate children

Some 76 percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll – including majorities of both Republicans and Democrats – agreed with a statement that it was the duty of all parents to vaccinate their children against measles.

One in four Republicans disagreed with the statement that parents have a duty to vaccinate their children.

In the 2019-2020 school year, 95.2 percent of kindergartners nationwide completed their two-dose MMR vaccine series, above the 95 percent threshold needed to protect unvaccinated individuals against the highly contagious disease through herd immunity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Measles vaccination rates dropped to 92.7 percent in 2023-2024.

In Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of an outbreak that has infected more than 700 people and killed two unvaccinated children, only 82 percent of kindergartners are fully vaccinated.

Some 55 percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were concerned about measles outbreaks – on par with the number who worried about being laid off from their jobs and well below the 80 percent who worried about rising inflation.

Just 32 percent of respondents in the poll said they thought the Trump administration would stop the current outbreak and prevent measles from becoming a common illness again.