US

Poll: Majority Of New York Voters Want To End Religious Exemptions For Vaccinations

Tero Vesalainen, Shutterstock

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Mary Margaret Olohan Social Issues Reporter
Font Size:

The majority of New York voters want to end religious exemptions for vaccinations, according to a poll released Monday.

A Siena College Research Institute poll showed 84% of New Yorkers would like to end religious exemptions to vaccinations, following the massive outbreak of measles in New York, according to HuffPost.

Public Health Laws in New York provide for medical and religious exemptions to vaccination requirements for school children, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (RELATED: Some Of Amazon’s Top Books On Vaccinations Come From A Slew Of Noted Anti-Vaxxers)

“New Yorkers overwhelmingly support legislation requiring parents to vaccinate their children regardless of religious beliefs. More than three-quarters of voters from every party and region support it,” said Steven Greenberg, a Siena College pollster.

“Republicans support the state ERA 56-30 percent, while independents support it 70-17 percent and Democrats approve 82-11 percent. At least 70 percent of voters from every region support it.”

Health officials said there have been 259 confirmed cases of measles in New York’s Rockland County, 566 confirmed cases of measles in New York City since September 2018, according to HuffPost, estimated to be the worst outbreak in 25 years.

The city declared a public health emergency in April during a severe outbreak in parts of Brooklyn and Rockland County. The public health emergency required vaccinations for children and prevented unvaccinated children from attending school.

The poll also asked voters opinions on legalizing recreational marijuana, giving drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants, and on Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s fourth potential term. Fifty-five percent of New York voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana, 53% of voters opposed drivers licenses for undocumented migrants, and 58% of voters opposed Cuomo’s fourth term.

The poll covered 812 New York voters over a period of five days in June and had a margin of error of 4.1%.

Follow Mary Margaret on Twitter.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.