WHY do Americans think what they think?

A Viewpoint Map distills viewpoints to digestible format so one can calmly consider them without distracting confrontation.

This one explores Americans’ perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines. We’re surveying whether people are confident in, or concerned about these vaccines and why or why not.

With that, now one may:

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Our reporting DOES NOT IMPLY ACCURACY OF THESE VIEWS, nor our support for any of them. This initiative seeks only to understand viewpoints, not to confirm, nor contest them. SOME STATEMENTS BELOW MAY BE FALSE.

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PERSPECTIVES GATHERED

Attributed comments, such as “Hattiesburg resident”, were submitted by survey respondents. Unattributed are paraphrases of sentiment expressed on social media.

People who have CONCERNS about the coronavirus vaccines cite these reasons:
(ranked according to survey results, click each to EXPAND for detail)

People who are CONFIDENT in the coronavirus vaccines cite these reasons:
(ranked according to survey results, click each to EXPAND for detail)


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SURVEY RESULTS

(updated 03 March 2022)

We want to know how many people hold each of the views reported above. Therefore, we are conducting surveys to (a) identify the full range of reasons people hold their views on vaccines and (b) roughly assess which of those reasons are most widely shared. The first round of surveys, in Miami Dade County, Florida, were completed in December, 2021. We are now surveying in the San Francisco Bay and Hattiesburg, Mississippi regions. As we survey additional regions, those results will be integrated below.

Methodology details are at bottom. This was not a scientific survey; results are directional, not conclusive and should be considered in the context of broader data sources. We make no representations about their accuracy, nor fitness for any purpose.

With those caveats, here are the most recent results.

How many respondents had concerns about COVID vaccines?


How many were vaccinated?

For comparison, according to CDC data, roughly 75-79% of Miami-Dade residents were fully vaccinated at the time of this survey.


For those respondents that had concerns about the vaccine, what were the reasons for their concerns?


For those respondents that had confidence in the vaccine, what were the reasons for their confidence?


What sources influenced people’s opinions on vaccines?

This chart lists on the left panel the various sources of information that respondents reported have influenced their opinions on COVID vaccines. On the right, the bar graphs show the percent of those concerned about vaccines (in orange) and those confident in vaccines (blue) that reported being most influenced by each information source. The sources are ordered by how differently they influenced each group. So, for instance, if an information source heavily influenced the “vax-concerned,” but did not influence the “vax-confident” nearly as much, then it would be at the top, and vice-versa.

What this shows is that the two groups are influenced by very different information sources.

Observations on survey:

  • The responses shown in the charts are shorthand for the full text choices shown in the summary above.
  • Sample size: For the initial survey in Miami-Dade, from a statistical standpoint, the final sample size of 132 participants well exceeds the threshold necessary for achieving results with 9% margin of error. Within a community of 2,701,767 residents in Miami Dade County (most recent census, April 2020), with a 95% confidence level one would want 119 responses to achieve a 9% margin of error (see Qualtrics).
  • Additional observations will be posted here as they emerge.

Notes on Methodology:

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This is an initiative of Project LISTEN, within e.pluribus.us. Learn more about Project LISTEN.

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Thoughts from across the aisle...

“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts.”

— Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States

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