This week’s Economist/YouGov poll covers…
- Whether Americans think Biden or Trump has been more transparent about their health as president
- How many Americans think Democrats actively tried to conceal from the public information about Biden's health during his presidency
- How many Americans want to receive a new COVID-19 vaccine
- How many Americans think the government should take no role in COVID vaccines
- How Republican sympathy for Ukraine in its war with Russia has changed since 2022
Vaccines and COVID-19
- Most Americans (54%) believe that people of all ages should be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines; 11% think only adults should be age-eligible, 6% think only adults 65 and older should be, and 13% think no one should be
- 77% of Americans believe vaccines in general are very or somewhat safe, though a smaller share — 58% — say the same about COVID-19 vaccines in particular
- Similar shares of Democrats say vaccines in general are safe as say so about COVID-19 vaccines (93% vs. 87%). Among Republicans, there is a large gap: 67% say vaccines in general are safe, but only 38% say the COVID-19 vaccine is safe
- Far more Democrats than Republicans view the COVID-19 vaccine as very effective at treating or preventing the spread of COVID (64% vs. 13%)
- The last time we posed this question was in October 2021. Democrats' current views are similar to those they held then, while Republicans have grown less confident in the vaccine's efficacy; 24% of Republicans at the time said the vaccine was very effective
- 70% of Americans say they've ever been vaccinated against COVID-19, including 89% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans
- 28% of Americans have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the past year. This includes 49% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans
- 33% of Americans — including 61% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans — say they would want to receive a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine if it is approved this fall
- Among Americans who wouldn't want to receive a new COVID-19 vaccine, the most common reasons why, among those included in the survey, are concerns about side effects (59%), safety concerns (49%), distrust of pharmaceutical companies (40%), and distrust of the government (36%)
- What role do Americans think the federal government should play when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines?
- 73% say it should track and report data on COVID-19 infections and vaccination rates
- 70% say it should make COVID-19 vaccines available for free to everyone
- 63% think it should fund research and development of COVID-19 vaccines
- 56% think it should approve COVID-19 vaccines through a government agency
- 55% think it should take no role in COVID-19 vaccines and leave decisions to individuals
- Fewer than half of Americans think the government should allow K-12 schools to require COVID-19 vaccination for their students (34%) or mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all adults (22%)
- Equal shares of Americans strongly or somewhat approve (40%) and disapprove (40%) of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s handling of his job as Secretary of Health and Human Services. This marks a slight increase in approval of Kennedy over the past month: In April, 36% approved and 43% disapproved of the job he was doing
- More say that Kennedy rejects the science on vaccines than say he follows the science (39% vs. 26%). Most Democrats (64%) think he rejects vaccine science. Many Republicans (43%) are unsure, while 42% think he follows the science
- Only 6% of Americans — including 5% of Democrats and 8% of Republicans — say they have a great deal of trust in what the U.S. government says about the origins of COVID-19
- One-third (33%) of Americans trust what the government says on COVID's origins a fair amount, while 61% trust the government not very much (40%) or not at all (20%) on this account
- By 58% to 18%, Americans think it is definitely or probably true rather than false that a laboratory in China was the origin of the COVID-19 virus. 41% of Democrats and 81% of Republicans think the virus originated in a Chinese lab
President health and age
- A majority of Americans (62%) believe that presidents should be required to publicly release all medical information that might affect their ability to serve as president; 28% say they should have the same right as every other citizen to keep their medical records private
- More Democrats than Republicans think presidents should be required to release medical info that could affect their ability to serve (72% vs. 58%)
- More Americans think that as president, Donald Trump has been very or somewhat transparent about his physical health than say that Joe Biden was during his presidency (42% vs. 31%)
- Far more Republicans say Trump has been transparent than say Biden was (78% vs. 53%)
- 31% of Americans say that Trump's health and age are severely limiting his ability to do the job as president. About twice as many — 58% — say Biden's health and age severely affected his abilities as president, and even more — 76% — say Biden's health and age would have severely limited his ability to serve a second term had he been re-elected in November
- 57% of Americans — including 28% of Democrats, 57% of Independents, and 86% of Republicans — believe that Democrats actively tried to conceal information about Joe Biden's health from the public during his presidency; only 22% say Democrats didn't do this
The Russia-Ukraine conflict
- Americans continue to be more likely to sympathize more with Ukraine (61%) than to sympathize more with Russia (4%) in the conflict between the two countries; 26% say they take neither side
- In March 2022, around 80% of both Democrats and Republicans said they sympathized more with Ukraine; today 80% of Democrats but only 50% of Republicans sympathize more with Ukraine.
- The share of Republicans siding with Ukraine dropped below 40% earlier this year, following Trump's Oval Office meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and has partially recovered since
- A significant proportion of Americans — 39% — think that Trump sympathizes more with Russia; only 15% believe he sides with Ukraine and 26% say he sides with neither country
- Most Americans want the U.S. government to have some involvement in negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine: 21% say the U.S. should be very involved and 42% say it should be somewhat involved
- Americans are divided on U.S. military aid to Ukraine: 27% want aid to be increased, 23% want it to be kept the same, 12% want it to be decreased, and 19% want it to be stopped entirely
- More Americans expect Russia will win the war than think Ukraine will (34% vs. 13%); 15% think both sides are equally likely to win and 38% are unsure
- More Americans think the U.S. would be better off with Ukraine winning than with Russia winning (42% vs. 4%); 27% think it wouldn't make a difference who won and 27% say they are not sure
- While about two-thirds (65%) of Americans would prefer for Russia to not control any of Ukraine's territory at the end of the war, few Americans expect this will be the case: 63% think Russia will end up controlling at least some of Ukraine's territory
— David Montgomery and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Throughout this report, some numbers may appear to be off by 1 because of rounding
See the toplines and crosstabs for the May 23 - 26, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,660 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty (Chip Somodevilla / Staff)
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