Poll: Majority of voters say vaccine mandates help the economy, coronavirus pandemic

A majority of voters said vaccine mandates help the coronavirus pandemic as well as the U.S. economy, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds.

Fifty-eight percent of registered voters in the Oct. 18-19 survey said vaccine mandates help the coronavirus pandemic while 24 percent said the mandates hurt it, and 18 percent said they have no effect.

Eighty-three percent of Democrats along with 53 percent of independents said the mandates help the pandemic while Republicans are more split with 38 percent saying they hurt it and 37 percent saying they help.

Twenty-four percent of Republicans said the mandates have no impact on the pandemic.

Fifty-one percent of all voters said the vaccine mandates help with U.S. economy, while 35 percent said they hurt it and 14 percent said they have no effect.

Seventy-five percent of Democrats said the mandates help the economy along with a plurality, 44 percent, of independents. 

Fifty-seven percent of Republicans said the mandates hurt the economy.

A July 28-29 Hill-HarrisX poll found more than two-thirds of Americans, 68 percent, support a vaccine mandate while 32 percent oppose one.

The most recent Hill-HarrisX poll was conducted online among 1,095 registered voters between Oct. 18 and 19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.96 percentage points. 

—Gabriela Schulte