The recent poll from POLITICO on Americans’ vaccine views is turning heads, and headlines, but may be turning them in the wrong direction, according to experts.

Reports of widespread vaccine skepticism among the American public may be greatly exaggerated, according to David M. Higgins, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora, Colorado. Higgins, author of the Community Immunity Substack newsletter, writes regularly about infectious diseases topics, and has particular affinity for vaccine issues as a longtime clinician.

In a recent post, Higgins responded to the publicity surrounding results of a poll from POLITICO, which suggested that more Americans doubt than trust the safety of vaccines.

Higgins noted that, although he believes the poll was conducted and the results reported in good faith, the poll question itself is difficult to interpret. Consequently, “it is a misinterpretation to claim that half the country is now skeptical of vaccines,” he said in his post.

The POLITICO Poll, a partnership between the POLITICO news organization and Public First, a London-based independent polling company, conducted an online survey of 3851 adults across the US in March 2026 that included the topic of vaccine safety.

Among other findings, the poll data indicated that 46% of all respondents, regardless of political preferences, said they agreed that “the facts on vaccines are still up for debate, and it is damaging to enforce their uptake.” In addition, 39% of all respondents said they agreed with the statement that “the science on vaccines is clear, and it is damaging to question it,” and 15% of all respondents said “Neither.”

Higgins noted the challenges of designing and interpreting survey questions. However, “perception shapes behavior at the scale of entire populations,” he said, meaning that, in addition to the accuracy of survey information, “how we interpret and communicate the findings is as important as the findings themselves.”

Higgins unpacked the vaccine safety poll question to show how the results could be misinterpreted.

He cited the actual poll question as follows: 

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 uptake.

As Higgins noted, a careful read of the question shows that respondents are actually being asked about four different ideas bundled into a single question.

He identified the four ideas as:

1. Is the science on vaccines clear?
2. Is it damaging to question vaccine science?
3. Are the facts on vaccines still up for debate?
4. Is it damaging to enforce vaccine uptake?

Higgins advised clinicians to consider how different people might answer this four-barreled question.

“A pediatrician who believes the science is clear, but also that vigorous debate is essential to good science. Where do they land? A parent who thinks the evidence is clear and has vaccinated their children but believes that ‘enforcing uptake’ is government overreach, agrees with half of both options,” he said. “A hesitant parent who has real questions about the childhood schedule but still brings their kids in for every appointment and supports school vaccine requirements as a reasonable community protection, has nowhere to go either,” he added.

Ultimately, the poll data should not be interpreted in isolation, Higgins said. For example, a February 2026 poll conducted by the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease showed that nearly 90% of Americans consider vaccines essential for public health.

Clinical Considerations

“Mistakenly misframing vaccine skepticism as more widespread than it actually is can cause harm,” Higgins wrote in his post. “If enough people hear a misleading message that most of their neighbors are skeptical about vaccines, some will start to doubt, too,” he said.

However, clinicians need not be proactive about addressing the recent survey results in a patient visit and should not assume that families have seen the headlines about the poll or are more hesitant because of them, Higgins told Medscape Medical News.

“Preemptively raising a misleading headline or narrative about confidence may unintentionally introduce doubt that wasn’t there in the first place,” he cautioned. “The bigger risk is clinicians themselves internalizing the misleading narrative and becoming less confident in their own recommendations before a patient even raises a concern,” said Higgins. “If a patient or parents bring it up, normalize confidence and vaccinating, because that is still what an overwhelming majority of patients and parents are choosing,” he emphasized.

For some people on the fence about vaccine safety, the publicity surrounding the POLITICO poll might increase vaccine hesitancy, said Higgins. “Headlines that incorrectly suggest skepticism is now the norm may cause people to hesitate. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy; however, the long-term impact will depend on whether accurate narratives get as much attention and traction as misleading headlines,” he said. “Unfortunately, the accurate narratives often are not as sensational and may not get the attention, but many people will not be impacted by for better and worse, as our news cycles are extremely short and filled with other events,” he noted.

Clinicians can and should continue to address patients’ concerns about vaccine safety simply and honestly if the issue comes up, Higgins told Medscape Medical News. He suggests saying something along these lines: “You may have [seen] headlines this week suggesting most Americans doubt vaccines. Those were misleading, and that’s actually not what the data show. In fact, support for vaccines remains incredibly strong across many different surveys and polls, and most of my patients and families are still choosing to vaccinate. Nothing has changed about our understanding of the safety and importance of these vaccines.”

“The clinician-patient relationship remains the most powerful tool we have for communication,” said Higgins. “Remember that the norm is still pro-vaccine, and saying so confidently in the exam room is one of the most important things clinicians can do right now,” he said.

Higgins had no financial conflicts to disclose.