Americans support vaccine mandates from employers

Linley SandersData Journalist
June 15, 2021, 4:15 PM GMT+0

This weekend, a federal judge in Texas ruled against hospital employees who argued that Houston Methodist Hospital should not be able to require them to get the coronavirus vaccine. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll, most Americans (56%) tend to agree with the judge in believing that a business should be allowed to mandate vaccines for its employees.

Democrats (79%) and the fully vaccinated (74%) are especially likely to support the vaccine requirements, while Independents are split on the issue (49% support the mandate, 51% do not). Two in five Republicans (39%) believe private businesses should be allowed to require COVID vaccines, compared to three in five (61%) who disagree.

One-third of Americans who are still deciding whether or not to get vaccinated (32%) say businesses should be able to require the vaccines, while two-thirds (68%) do not think the mandates should be permitted. Nearly all of those who do not intend to get vaccinated oppose the inoculation demand (93%), while 7% believe companies should be able to require them.

Americans overall (65%) are especially likely to support vaccine requirements for employees of businesses that accommodate larger groups of people, such as arenas, cruise ships or airplanes. There is slightly less support for these types of large venues requiring vaccines for customers and attendees of large events (57%), but a majority still sign off.

Masking requirements continue to receive high approval: two-thirds of Americans (69%) approve of that large companies requiring masks for workers, customers, and attendees.

See the toplines and crosstabs from this CBS News/YouGov poll

Methodology: This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,037 U.S. adult residents interviewed between June 8 - 10, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as 2020 Presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.6 points.

Image: Pexels

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