Seventy-six percent of American adults now say the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is safe for children, down from 84 percent six years earlier, according to a four-day Reuters/Ipsos poll completed this week. The decline was most pronounced among Republicans, and it lands in the worst measles year the country has recorded in more than three decades.
The number matters because confidence tends to move before coverage does. National kindergarten MMR coverage has fallen below the roughly 95 percent needed for community immunity, the threshold that protects infants too young for a first dose and children who cannot be vaccinated.
A second survey released the same week sharpens the household question. When people receive conflicting health information, only about half say they default to their physician. For a parent deciding whether to keep a scheduled MMR appointment, the issue is no longer only what the evidence says but whose account of it they trust.
A Four-Day Sample Taken as Deaths Were Confirmed
The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,143 adults online and nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Beyond the safety question, 19 percent said they approve of President Donald Trump's handling of the measles outbreaks while 52 percent disapprove.
Registered voters chose Democrats over Republicans by 45 percent to 25 percent on which party has the better approach to stopping infectious diseases such as measles. About 31 percent said they were very worried about measles outbreaks, compared with 58 percent who said the same about their cost of living.
The backdrop, summarized by CIDRAP, is a national count of 3,294 confirmed cases, a 35-year high, against 2,289 for all of 2025. Nearly 700 were in Pennsylvania when the poll closed, and the state has since confirmed four measles-associated deaths. A separate Axios-Ipsos survey found trust in federal vaccination recommendations slipping as well.
Partisan Split and a Low Ranking for Measles Worry
Two findings should be read together. Confidence in MMR safety has eroded unevenly, concentrated among Republican respondents, while overall worry about measles sits well below worry about household finances.
That combination describes how outbreaks spread here. National averages conceal local pockets. CDC data show kindergarten MMR coverage falling from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4 percent in 2025-2026, leaving roughly 280,000 kindergartners unprotected, and coverage can vary sharply within states that look well protected overall.
Polls measure stated opinion, not behavior. Pennsylvania's own figures cut the other way. Providers there gave more than 46,000 MMR doses in August, well above the typical 25,000 a month, according to the state health department. Fear and uptake can rise together.
Half of Patients No Longer Default to the Doctor
The second survey, from the Edelman Trust Institute and the Yale School of Public Health, questioned nearly 13,000 people across 13 countries, including the United States. Given conflicting information from a physician and another source, 51 percent said they always follow the doctor, 34 percent said it depends, and 15 percent said they always go with the other source.
Seven in 10 believed at least one of six disproven health claims, such as the assertion that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism. Nearly half said consumers fluent in artificial intelligence can address health problems as well as or better than a physician. The authors wrote that the findings point to an imperative for providers to "move beyond persuasion" and invest in relationships and community presence.
The 13-country data carried a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points, with country-specific figures at plus or minus 4.1 points. This is a survey report rather than a peer-reviewed study, and it describes attitudes rather than actions.
Practical Ground for Parents Sorting Conflicting Advice
The survey also recorded what people say would move them, which is more useful to a family than the headline percentage. More than half said they need a physician to understand their individual situation, at 58 percent, to welcome questions without judgment, at 57 percent, and to address their concerns, at 55 percent. Among those holding many contested health beliefs, 56 percent valued a doctor acknowledging that they do not have all the answers.
Parents can use that directly. Bringing written questions, asking a clinician to separate what is settled from what is genuinely uncertain, and asking what they would do for their own child are all requests the survey suggests clinicians respond to. Two MMR doses provide 97 percent lifetime protection, and dose timing for travel is worth confirming with a clinician rather than a social feed.
Cost is rarely the obstacle. Most plans cover recommended childhood vaccines, the Vaccines for Children program supplies free doses for eligible children, and community health centers offer sliding-scale fees. Families near an outbreak should check county alerts, and anyone with fever and a spreading rash should call ahead before entering a clinic.
Reuters and Ipsos run this tracking poll repeatedly, so the next reading will show whether 76 percent was a floor or a waypoint. The CDC updates measles counts weekly.
Key Questions Answered
What did the poll actually measure? Reuters/Ipsos asked 1,143 US adults whether they consider the MMR vaccine safe for children. Seventy-six percent said yes, compared with 84 percent in 2020. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Does lower confidence mean fewer children are being vaccinated? Not directly. Polls capture opinion, not behavior. Kindergarten coverage has been declining for years, but Pennsylvania reported a sharp increase in MMR doses given during its outbreak.
Why does the 95 percent figure keep coming up? Roughly 95 percent coverage is the level at which measles struggles to spread, protecting infants and people who cannot be vaccinated. National kindergarten coverage is now about 92.4 percent.
What did the 13-country survey find about doctors? Only 51 percent of nearly 13,000 respondents said they always follow their physician when information conflicts.
How should a parent handle conflicting vaccine claims? Ask a clinician to separate what is settled from what is uncertain, bring written questions, and confirm dose timing. Respondents said they respond best to clinicians who welcome questions without judgment.
