"What we found is roughly 43% of people say that they're 'more likely' to do business with a company that's not requiring their employees to be vaccinated," explains Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action. "[That tells me] they want to see freedom of choice."
In contrast, more than a third (34.3%) of those responding to the poll say they are "less likely" to do business with a company that's not requiring employees to be vaccinated. Almost a quarter (23.1%) say they have no opinion. The poll of more than a thousand individuals was conducted by Convention of States Action, in partnership with The Trafalgar Group.
"One of the most interesting things about the story itself is 'Are the people answering the phones [during the polling] vaccinated or unvaccinated?' – because my gut would tell me, 'Look, if you've already had the vaccine, if you've made that decision for yourself, if you're kind of a pro-vaccine person, you would want these businesses to enforce vaccines' – and that's not correct," says Meckler.
He points out that 65% of those surveyed were actually vaccinated. "And the great majority of them still don't want businesses to force it," he notes. "So, what this tells me very clearly is that the American people are in favor of freedom of choice."
Earlier this week, following the FDA's approval of the Pfizer vaccine, President Joe Biden urged business to require employees be vaccinated.
"I'm calling on more companies in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people," Biden said in remarks at the White House. "If you're a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader, who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that – require it. Do what I did last month: require your employees to get vaccinated … or face strict requirements."
