Support for Tying Polio Vaccination Status to Child Tax Credit Eligibility in the United States

Background/Objectives: In a context characterized by persistent vaccine hesitancy, shifting mandates, and stagnating immunization coverage rates, novel policy tools may be required to bolster immunization coverage in the United States. We conducted a national survey to characterize public support for a new tax policy that would require parents to prove that their children are age-appropriately immunized against polio to be eligible for the federal child tax credit. Methods: The survey was conducted in November 2025. Respondents were asked to provide demographic information and use a Likert-scale to indicate their support for the proposed policy. Chi-squared tests and ordinal logistic regression models were used to compare support for the proposed policy across subpopulations. Results: 980 individuals were included in the analysis. 55.8% of respondents supported adding age-appropriate polio immunization to the child tax credit eligibility criteria. 20.9% of respondents opposed the policy proposal. Relative levels of support for the policy differed according to respondent gender, age, 2024 presidential election behavior, and geographic region. However, support did not differ significantly according to race, ethnicity, educational attainment, income, or partisanship. Conclusions: Results show that most survey respondents would support a policy that would add polio immunization status to the eligibility criteria for the federal child tax credit. Further, support did not differ across key demographic and political subgroups. Larger surveys should validate these findings and investigate support for adding additional vaccines to the eligibility criteria.