Townhall covered how new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention treated vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans the same when it comes to masking and social distancing. Spencer noted in his report how liberals were unhappy with the CDC's updated guidance this week surrounding COVID-19. Several leftists criticized the CDC for not "following the science."
A poll from Gallup published on Monday shows that current support for vaccination requirements for students is lower than it was in the 2021-2022 school year.
In the findings, 54 percent of respondents said that they support colleges and universities mandating the vaccine for their students. This is down from 63 percent last year.
Last year, 60 percent of respondents said they support vaccine mandates for high school students. This year, the number has gone down to 53 percent. For middle school-aged students, last year, 56 percent supported vaccine mandates for this age group. Now, 51 percent of respondents support it. Less than half, 48 percent of respondents, support vaccine requirements for elementary school students. The data for this age group was not collected by Gallup a year ago.
Gallup noted that parents are less likely than non-parents to favor vaccine mandates at schools.
Parents of school-aged children are significantly less likely than nonparents to favor vaccination mandates at all education levels. Only about four in 10 parents favor them for any student cohort, while between 51% and 57% of nonparents support them.
Broken down, only 42 percent of parents support vaccine mandates for highschool students, while 57 percent of non-parents support it. Forty-one percent of parents support vaccine mandates for high school students, while 56 percent of non-parents support it. Thirty-nine percent of parents support vaccine mandates for middle school students, 54 percent of nonparents support it. As for elementary school students, 38 percent of parents support vaccine mandates for this age group, compared to 51 percent of nonparents.
Gallup pointed out how Republicans and Democrats differ on the issue of school vaccine mandates.
As is the case for many COVID-19 opinions or behaviors, the largest subgroup differences are by political party. More than eight in 10 Democrats favor vaccination mandates for all student groups, while fewer than two in 10 Republicans agree.
Democrats overwhelmingly favor students in all age groups being required to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend school. An overwhelming majority, 88 percent, feel that college and high school students should be vaccinated. Eighty-five percent feel the same for middle school aged students. Eighty-five percent believe that middle school students should be required to be vaccinated.
In all party groups, parents of school-aged children are less likely than nonparents to favor vaccination requirements, usually by about 10 percentage points. For example, 72% of Democratic parents versus 83% of Democratic nonparents favor vaccination mandates for elementary school students. Among independents, the figures are 30% for parents and 44% for nonparents. Among Republicans, 7% of parents versus 15% of nonparents are in favor of requiring elementary students to get vaccinated.
Many schools in the U.S. require students to be vaccinated, and in some cases, boosted in order to attend classes. However, as Gallup noted, parents of the students are more likely to oppose than support requiring the vaccine going forward.