HIGH POINT, N.C., March 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new HPU Poll finds that a large majority of North Carolinians consider vaccines to be safe for healthy children, support requiring them for childhood diseases, and would keep in place the 5-year-old smoking ban in bars and restaurants here in North Carolina.
Almost three quarters (74 percent) of respondents to the HPU Poll say that vaccinations for childhood diseases should be mandatory rather than giving parents a choice. An even larger majority – 86 percent say that vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella and polio are safe for healthy children.
However, there was less enthusiasm for adults vaccinating themselves in the last few months for the flu. Just less than a majority (47 percent) of North Carolinians say they had a vaccination against that common illness.
The smoking ban in bars and restaurants that passed the state General Assembly five years ago has considerable support in the state. Approximately 71 percent, or 7 out of 10 poll respondents, prefer to keep the ban in place rather than giving bar and restaurant owners a choice about whether to maintain smoke-free facilities.
The 2010 health care reform law called the Affordable Care Act continues to lack the support of more than half of North Carolinians. Forty-two percent of North Carolina residents currently approve of the law. That is about the same as the 38 percent who approved of the law in the February 2014 HPU Poll.
"Most North Carolinians have confidence in the safety of childhood vaccinations and are willing to require them. But that does not mean adults all get vaccinated against diseases like the flu. A large majority also support the 5-year-old smoking ban," says Martin Kifer, director of the HPU Poll and assistant professor of political science. "Having confidence in certain kinds of treatments or preventive care is probably different than how people think about the Affordable Care Act or 'Obamacare.' The opinion of that health care law is divided, consistent and a bit more negative than positive."
All adults – Required vaccines (Late February 2015)
Thinking about childhood diseases, such as measles, mumps, rubella and polio, should all children be required to be vaccinated OR should parents be able to decide NOT to vaccinate their children?
All children should be vaccinated – 74 percent
Parents should be able to decide – 24 percent
Don't know/refused – 3 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 21-26, n = 513 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.3 percent)
All adults – Vaccines are safe for healthy kids (Late February 2015)
Thinking about childhood diseases, such as measles, mumps, rubella and polio, do you think these vaccines are safe for healthy children or are they not safe for healthy children?
Safe for healthy children – 86 percent
Not safe for healthy children – 5 percent
Don't know/refused – 9 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 21-26, n = 513 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.3 percent)
All adults – Flu vaccinations (Late February 2015)
Have you received a flu vaccine in the last 6 months?
Yes – 47 percent
No – 52 percent
Don't remember/refused – 1 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 21-26, n = 513 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.3 percent)
All adults – Smoking ban (Late February 2015)
About five years ago, North Carolina passed a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Do you support keeping that ban in effect or should bars and restaurants have the option to allow smoking?
Keep ban in effect – 71 percent
Give bars/restaurants choice – 28 percent
Don't know – 2 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 21-26, n = 513 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.3 percent)
All adults – Health care approval (Late February 2015)
Now I would like to ask you about some health care issues. First, we'd like to ask you about the 2010 health care law that restructured the U.S. health care system. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the health care law?
Approve – 42 percent
Disapprove – 52 percent
Don't know/refused – 7 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 21-26, n = 513 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.3 percent)
All adults – Health care approval (February 2014)
We'd like to ask you about the 2010 health care law that restructured the U.S. health care system. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the health care law?
Approve – 38 percent
Disapprove – 54 percent
Don't know/refused – 9 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) sample surveyed Feb. 16-20, 2014, n = 403 and margin of sampling error approximately = +/- 4.9 percent)
The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Feb. 21-26, 2015. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 513 adults with landline or cellular telephones. The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International to acquire this sample. The survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 4.3 percentage points for all adult respondents. The data are weighted toward population estimates for cellular and landline telephone use, age, gender and race. In addition to sampling error, factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available at http://www.highpoint.edu/src/files/2015/03/36memoA.pdf .
The February 2014 survey was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Feb. 16-20, 2014. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 403 adults with landline or cellular telephones. The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International to acquire this sample. The survey has an estimated margin of sampling error of approximately 4.9 percentage points for these respondents. The data are weighted toward population estimates for cellular and landline telephone use, age, gender and race. In addition to sampling error, factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls.
Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past studies can be found at the Survey Research Center website at http://www.highpoint.edu/src/ . The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.
The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR's Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. For more information, see http://transparency.aapor.org/index.php/transparency .
You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HPUSurveyCenter .
Dr. Martin Kifer, assistant professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald serves as the assistant director of the HPU Poll.
Pam Haynes Director of Media Relations 336-841-9055;
