New poll finds lingering sharp political divisions on Biden vaccine mandate

A new poll from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds lingering sharp political divides on President Biden’s vaccine mandates for employers. 

The survey released Wednesday found 51 percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat approve of Biden’s mandate for employers with 100 workers or more to require vaccinations or weekly testing, compared to 34 percent who said they either strongly or somewhat disapprove of the mandates. A separate 14 percent had no opinion.

Support for the mandates was largely driven by Democrats, with 77 percent saying they approved of the mandates compared to 11 percent who disapproved.

By contrast, a large majority of Republicans, 62 percent, disapproved of the vaccine mandates compared to 27 percent who approved.

Independents were much more divided on the mandates, with 37 percent supporting the mandates and 35 percent disapproving. A separate 28 percent had no opinion.

Biden’s mandates came amid a rise in coronavirus infections fueled by the delta variant, but Republicans had been pushing back on vaccine mandates. Republican governors and state legislatures had enacted measures banning vaccine mandates before the order.

When Biden announced his order, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and several GOP governors vowed to sue.

The survey found that the vaccine mandates largely popular with Americans that are vaccinated, with 64 percent approving the mandate compared with 67 percent of unvaccinated Americans disapproving the mandate.

In addition, 70 percent of remote workers and 46 percent of employees who work in person also approved of the vaccine mandate. 

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,099 adults between Sept. 23-27, 2021. It has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.