The vast majority of people between the ages of 18 and 29 want schools and businesses to require students and employees to get vaccinated before returning, according to a new poll from Generation Lab and Axios.
''The youth are coming to bat in a big spot,'' the survey notes. ''America's vaccine supply is swelling as demand dims. Now that Americans older than 12 have vaccine access, it's a matter of turning eligibility into inoculation.''
- 74% say people should have to get vaccinated before returning to work or campus.
- 42% said definitely yes.
- 32% said probably yes.
- 11% said probably no.
- 16% said definitely no.
The poll adds that ''mandates could un-jam the vaccine plateau (even though they're not necessary) to pull young people back onto campuses or workplaces'' because ''young people are pathologically open-minded — they're willing to take the vaccine even if they've held out so far,'' while ''business leaders, university administrators and school districts now have a major chance to compel the still-skeptical to get vaccinated.''
- 37% would probably or definitely refuse to return to campus or their workplace if students or workers are not required to get vaccinated.
- 63% probably or definitely would not refuse to return.
- 66% of respondents who aren’t vaccinated would if it were required by their school or place of employment.
One respondent said: "I live in a very red area and a lot of people are not getting vaccinated. So I know if I were to return to campus, and vaccinations were not mandatory, that 90% of people would not be vaccinated. So that means our campus would have an outbreak again."
The Generation Lab conducted the survey on behalf of Axios from May 5 to May 8 among 928 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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