KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: The Public’s Views on Measles Outbreaks and Misinformation
One year-old River Jacobs is held by his mother, Caitlin Fuller, while he receives an MMR vaccine last month from Raynard Covarrubio at a vaccine clinic by the Lubbock Public Health Department in Lubbock, Texas. Photo by Jan Sonnenmair / Getty Images
KFF Health News
As of late April, the U.S. has confirmed 800 measles cases in 2025 across more than 20 states – already more than double the amount of cases reported in 2024. KFF’s latest Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust finds that most adults (56%) and about half of parents of children under 18 (48%) are aware that the number of measles cases in the U.S. is higher this year than in recent years. This leaves about four in ten adults who are unaware that measles cases are on the rise in the U.S., either incorrectly saying cases are lower or about the same as compared to recent years (16%), or that they are “not sure” (28%).
Awareness of the rise in measles cases differs across partisans, as Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to know that measles cases are higher this year than recent years (71% v. 49%), with a similar partisan gap occurring among parents who are Democrats or lean Democrat and those who are Republicans or lean Republican (64% v. 37%). Overall, college graduates are more likely than those without a college degree to know that measles cases are up this year compared to recent years (72% vs. 47%), but partisan differences in knowledge hold even when controlling for education. For example, among adults without a college degree, a larger share of Democrats than Republicans are aware that measles cases are higher now than in recent years (61% v. 43%). These partisan differences may be related to messaging from the Trump administration as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently claimed this year’s outbreak in the U.S. is “not unusual” even as measles cases in the U.S. are currently at their highest point since 2019.
ADDITIONAL MEASLES NEWS
LATEST MEASLES DATA FROM THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
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ADDITIONAL NEWS FROM THE INTEGRITY PROJECT
