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An October 2025 poll conducted by Tony Fabrizio found strong voter concern over childhood vaccine mandates and pharmaceutical industry influence, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation, but the survey was never made public.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
An unreleased October 2025 poll conducted by President Donald Trump’s longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio found that voters expressed broad concern about childhood vaccine mandates, pharmaceutical industry influence and the need for additional research into vaccine safety, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The poll, which the DCNF said it obtained but did not publish at the request of a source, found that 73% of voters expressed concern about childhood vaccine requirements and mandates. It also found that 90% of voters were concerned about what the survey described as the pharmaceutical industry’s corrupting influence.
The findings were not released publicly. Instead, White House officials in later media reports cited a narrower Fabrizio survey conducted one month later that portrayed vaccines as a political liability. That polling was used to explain Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s shift toward food policy during the election year, according to the submitted material.
The shift away from vaccine policy at HHS came before the termination of the lead author of the Trump administration’s policy review on the childhood vaccination schedule.
The unpublished poll showed voters’ leading health-related concern was the pharmaceutical lobby’s influence over public policy, medical research and news coverage. It also found that nearly seven in 10 voters supported more research into the cumulative effects of vaccines given to infants.
Fabrizio’s firm, Fabrizio Lee, did not respond to requests for comment, according to the DCNF.
The hidden poll has drawn attention because it contrasted sharply with two public surveys released by Fabrizio’s firm. The public polls asked voters about “established” vaccine schedules and “longstanding” vaccine policies, language critics said could reduce apparent support for reform. That framing differed from Trump’s own comments, including his December statement ordering review of why the U.S. childhood vaccination schedule includes more shots than schedules in comparable countries. Trump repeated his concerns during a May 10 interview, and related remarks were circulated in an embedded X post.
The public November poll asked whether the administration should “remove established childhood vaccine recommendations for diseases like whooping cough, measles, hepatitis and others.” Support for that position fell to 22%. By contrast, the unpublished October survey asked more broadly about concern over “childhood vaccination requirements and mandates,” producing a far higher level of concern.
The October poll also measured voter attitudes toward the pharmaceutical industry and found that just 18% of voters reported a favorable view. According to the submitted material, voters showed bipartisan support for limiting vaccine manufacturers’ power, expanding parental authority and conducting more safety research.
At least 68% of voters agreed with statements saying the National Institutes of Health should study potential complications from infants receiving too many vaccines too quickly, that the government should not provide blanket immunity to vaccine manufacturers, and that either individuals and government should share responsibility for vaccine decisions or government should have no role at all. Only 11% of voters said the government alone should make vaccination decisions.
The unpublished survey found that 37% of voters said there was no reason to change how children receive vaccines. Another 45% said families should be allowed to spread out the schedule, and 8% said childhood vaccines are outright unsafe.
The public polls did not ask those questions. Instead, they asked voters about individual vaccines, including MMR, Tdap, hepatitis B and the shingles vaccine for adults over 50. Those vaccines drew broad support.
Fabrizio first published a MAHA-related vaccine poll in August 2025. Kennedy supporters later approached Fabrizio’s team about conducting a more detailed survey in October 2025, which was commissioned by MAHA Action, according to the title slide cited in the submitted material. Fabrizio then conducted another survey in November 2025 that again asked about individual vaccines and “established” vaccine policies.
The October poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters. The August poll surveyed 1,000 voters nationally, while the December survey polled 1,000 voters in the 35 most competitive congressional districts. All three surveys used cell phones, landlines and text messages, included roughly equal numbers of Republicans, independents and Democrats, and reported a 95% confidence level with sampling errors ranging from 2.5% to 3.1%.
The unpublished survey also showed that public awareness of the Make America Healthy Again movement remained strongest among people who already supported Trump. Republicans who could recall a MAHA policy were more likely to name action on artificial ingredients, food dyes and processed foods. Democrats were more likely to recall negative coverage involving autism, Tylenol and vaccines.
“Most voters are concerned about a variety of general health issues, but just a third of voters call themselves a part of the MAHA movement,” Fabrizio’s firm concluded. “Voters who have heard about MAHA recently are being positively impacted by its actions on artificial ingredients and food dyes, but recent mentions surrounding autism causes and vaccines have led many to believe MAHA isn’t science/evidence based.”
The DCNF previously reported on internal company and FDA documents that it said showed private concerns about Tylenol and neurological harm in infants. The submitted material said corporate media outlets broadly dismissed those concerns.
The polling dispute comes amid a major shake-up at the Food and Drug Administration. Since April 30, three senior officials who were leading drug policy at the agency, including Commissioner Marty Makary, have left the administration. All three had criticized Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine policies and sought to strengthen FDA standards, according to the submitted material.
Kennedy and the White House recently remade the FDA after tensions developed with Makary over flavored vapes and regulation of injectable peptides, according to a senior administration official cited in the submitted material. Kennedy had sought to use existing FDA databases to mirror older vaccine safety studies, while Makary preferred stronger clinical trials from vaccine manufacturers, according to a former administration official.
The FDA changes also followed a covert lobbying effort from pharmaceutical companies, which worked through allies in the press, Congress and the White House, Endpoints News reported. Other press reports said the White House wanted to reduce the “noise” surrounding the issue.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and HHS Chief Counselor Chris Klomp have supported other administration health initiatives, including TrumpRx, a direct-to-consumer website for discounted drugs, and an executive order on studying psychedelics to treat mental illness.
Thank you for this @SusieWiles Couldn’t more proud to be one of these “Musketeers!” pic.twitter.com/8aa6W1Mag0
— Tony Fabrizio (@TonyFabrizioGOP) November 23, 2024
Makary resigned May 12 after pressure from the White House and months of criticism from the biotech industry and business press over individual drug rejections. One example cited in the submitted material was the FDA’s rejection of an experimental melanoma drug after the company declined the agency’s recommendation to include a control arm in its clinical trial.
Vinay Prasad, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and an ally of Makary, faced intense criticism from the business press after placing regulatory obstacles before an mRNA flu vaccine and an experimental drug injected through the skull. He later announced he would complete his government service on April 30.
Tracy Beth Høeg, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, was pushed out of the FDA last week by unnamed senior officials who did not identify themselves to her, according to a former administration official cited in the submitted material. Høeg had supported narrowing the childhood vaccination schedule to the most essential shots.
In January, Høeg led a 34-page scientific review recommending that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention align the U.S. childhood and adolescent immunization schedule more closely with 20 other developed countries. The review recommended reducing the schedule from 17 vaccines to 10 “consensus vaccines” that had broad international precedent. Officials said the purpose was to strengthen confidence in core immunizations.
A Gallup poll found a drop in the share of Americans who considered childhood vaccines “extremely important” or “very important,” from 94% in 2001 to 69% in 2024.
Despite months of negative coverage surrounding Makary and senior FDA staff, drug approvals under Makary were on par with prior years, according to the submitted material.
The unpublished Fabrizio poll adds a new dimension to the debate over how the Trump administration has handled vaccine policy, voter concern over pharmaceutical influence and the future of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda inside federal health agencies.