Opinion: Measles is back — and becoming a midterm liability for Republicans — SkimNews
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Republican Party faces a self-inflicted midterm wound on vaccines, with a KFF poll showing more than 60% of voters disapprove of the Trump administration's handling of vaccine policy and only 28% of independents approve.
- The United States has recorded more than 4,000 measles cases in 2025, the highest annual total since 1991, along with six related deaths, with more than one in 10 patients requiring hospitalization.
- President Trump signed an August executive order to slim down the childhood vaccine schedule and suggested a debunked link between vaccines and autism, while HHS threw a key vaccine advisory panel into turmoil and downplayed measles danger.
- Democrats hold a 16-point advantage on vaccine policy — 41% of voters trust them more versus 25% for Republicans — per the KFF poll cited by the authors.
- Fabrizio Ward, a Republican polling firm, warned in a 2025 memo that undermining vaccines would cost votes, finding nearly 70% of voters more likely to back candidates who preserve vaccine access and over 50% less likely to support candidates who don't.
- The MMR vaccine eliminated measles in the US by 2000 after previously infecting up to 4 million Americans annually, hospitalizing roughly 48,000 and killing around 500 each year — and the country is now on the verge of losing that elimination status.
Why it matters: Republican-leaning voters are crossing a threshold — over 50% say they'd reject a candidate who doesn't support vaccines even if aligned on other issues. With measles cases at a 34-year high and 60%+ disapproval of the administration's vaccine handling, silence on vaccines is becoming a dealbreaker for a bloc the GOP can't afford to lose in a close midterm.
Ask SkimNews
