Americans are more likely to accept guidance on vaccines from the American Medical Association (AMA) than from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though trust isn’t particular high for either organization, according to an Annenberg Public Policy Center poll released yesterday.

Confidence in the AMA compared to the CDC was true regardless of political party affiliation among adults polled, suggesting the CDC may have lost credibility among Democrats because of recent changes to the CDC website’s language on vaccines and autism that gave more credence to a long-debunked link between the two. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans have expressed lowered confidence in the CDC in the wake of mask and vaccine mandates.

The survey included 1,006 American adults and was conducted November 21 through 24, just after the CDC website language change. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

A third of Republicans don’t trust either organization

Forty-three percent of self-identified Democrats said they would accept the AMA’s recommendation regarding the safety of a vaccine, and 18% would accept the CDC’s. Three in 10 (31%) self-identified Republicans said they are more likely to accept the AMA’s recommendation over the CDC’s (13%).

Overall, by a two-to-one margin, those polled said they would accept AMA’s recommendations (35%) over the CDC’s (16%) if the two bodies issued conflicting statements on vaccine safety.

In addition, 21% say they would take neither organization’s recommendation, and 27% say they are not sure, the center said in a press release on the poll. Thirty-two percent of Republicans say they would take neither organization’s recommendation, compared with 8% of Democrats and 23% of independents.

Younger adults 18 to 29 are statistically just as likely to say they would accept the recommendation of the CDC as the AMA’s on vaccine safety

In addition to political affiliation, age also played a role in determining confidence in the AMA or CDC.

“Half of U.S. adults age 65 and older (50%) are more likely to take the AMA’s guidance on vaccines than the CDC’s (13%),” the center said. “However, younger adults 18 to 29 are statistically just as likely to say they would accept the recommendation of the CDC as the AMA’s on vaccine safety.”

52% of Americans agree: No link between autism and vaccine

Half, or 52% of Americans, said they agreed with the CDC’s statement on autism and vaccine before November 20, 2025, which stated, “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism.”

One-third said they agreed with the new statement, which states, “The claim that ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

The link between autism and vaccines falls along party lines, with 74% of Democrats saying they agree there is no link between receiving a vaccine and autism, compared with 33% of Republicans.

Seventy-percent of people ages 18 to 29 also believe there is no link, compared with 44% of those age 50 to 64, and 55% of those age 65 or older.