- Two-thirds of voters view Fauci's private miscarriage risk warnings as a serious scandal.
- Fauci privately alerted CDC officials to a theoretical miscarriage link, then publicly said there were no red flags.
- Workplace vaccine mandates affected 32% of respondents, and 74% of them call the discrepancy a serious scandal.
- Voters demand accountability, with 34% favoring removal, license revocation, and prosecution combined.
- The texts came from Fauci's government phone, showing private concerns contradicted by public assurances.
A nationwide survey released Wednesday reveals that two-thirds of likely voters view the disclosure of Dr. Anthony Fauci's private concerns about miscarriage risks as a serious scandal, casting a shadow over his public assurances about vaccine safety for pregnant women.
The controversy stems from text messages obtained by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which show that in January 2021, Fauci privately alerted then-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and then-surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy to a theoretical link between the second vaccine dose and first-trimester miscarriages. Days later, Fauci publicly stated there were "no red flags" for pregnant women.
According to the Rasmussen Reports poll conducted August 13 and 16-17, 2026, among 1,087 likely U.S. voters, 66% consider the discrepancy a serious scandal, with 48% calling it "Very Serious." The survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Voters divided over mandates tied to the shots
The findings also highlight the prevalence of employer-mandated vaccinations. Nearly a third of respondents, 32%, said their jobs required them to get a COVID-19 vaccine, while almost two-thirds, 63%, faced no such requirement.
Among those vaccinated because of workplace mandates, the outrage is even more pronounced — 74% view Fauci's actions as a serious scandal. The survey also revealed partisan divides: 81% of Republicans, 57% of Democrats and 59% of unaffiliated voters consider the matter at least somewhat serious.
Democrats were more likely than Republicans or independents to have been vaccinated under an employer mandate, with 40% reporting compulsory vaccination compared with 27% each among the other groups.
Voters call for accountability
Asked what should happen to officials who concealed miscarriage risk data, 34% of respondents favored "all of the above" — removal from their jobs, revocation of medical licenses and criminal prosecution. Twenty-nine percent called specifically for termination, while 12% each supported license revocation or prosecution.
Only 14% said such officials should face no punishment at all. That appetite for consequences cuts across party lines: 82% of Republicans, 66% of Democrats and 76% of unaffiliated voters support at least some form of punishment.
Among 2024 Trump voters, 51% backed the harshest combined penalty, compared with just 19% of Kamala Harris voters. Concern also spanned racial lines, with majorities across groups — including 63% of white voters, 71% of Black voters and 77% of Hispanic voters — calling the revelation a serious scandal.
What the texts show
The messages, released by Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, were recovered from Fauci's government-issued cell phone, which yielded more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails. In the January 2021 exchange, Fauci wrote that cytokine storms and fever after the second dose "theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester." Walensky called it "definitely a good point," and Murthy agreed.
Despite those private discussions, Fauci told the Journal of the American Medical Association on Feb. 3, 2021, that the FDA had found "no red flags" for pregnant women. He repeated similar assurances on Feb. 10, citing roughly 20,000 vaccinated pregnant women with no safety concerns detected.
Johnson's office said the newly released texts carry real weight for public health and the principle that patients deserve to know the full picture before they consent to a medical procedure. Fauci has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights rather than testify before the Homeland Security Committee, and Paul has referred him for prosecution.
For millions of Americans who were told to trust the science and had little choice but to comply with vaccine mandates, this poll confirms what many already suspected: the reassurances came first, and the full picture came years later. Informed consent isn't a courtesy; it's the foundation patients are owed before any medical decision, and voters across the political spectrum appear finished waiting for Washington to remember that.
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