One day after the Trump administration announced an unproven link between taking Tylenol during pregnancy and autism, the vast majority of Americans were familiar with the claim, which had already been widely reported. But a new survey by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy organization, also shows that Republican women are significantly more likely to lean toward believing the administration’s claim. 

The survey, fielded last month and released Thursday, reveals the ways partisanship drives how willing someone is to believe a health claim. This comes as trust in institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plummets under anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership of its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Overall, women are more likely than men to think that the link between autism and Tylenol’s active ingredient, acetaminophen, is “definitely false,” according to the survey. However, a divide becomes clear when the data is broken down by party: 54 percent of Republican women think the connection is definitely or probably true, while only 13 percent of Democratic women believe the same. Thirty-four percent of Independent women think the connection is probably or definitely true. 

A large amount of uncertainty is common when asking questions about health misinformation or misleading claims, said Alex Montero, a survey analyst on the KFF polling team. He also frequently sees a partisan divide around questions about vaccines and autism. 

Studies have not established that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism. Health care professionals told The 19th that the claim is “false” and “not borne out in the data.” They also said that discouraging Tylenol use will put pregnant people in danger. 

Tylenol is, in fact, the only pain reliever recommended by physicians for use during pregnancy. It is specifically helpful as a fever reducer; an untreated elevated temperature during pregnancy can lead to birth defects or premature delivery. 

The new recommendation contradicts what doctors have said for a long time — and the KFF survey reflects the ensuing confusion. For example, 47 percent of Republican women think the link between Tylenol and autism is “probably true,” compared with 32 percent who think it’s “probably false.” Independent women are even more split: 30 percent believe the link is “probably true,” while 32 percent say it’s “probably false.”

One-third of Independent women and nearly two-thirds of Democratic women think the link is “definitely false.” 

“There’s definitely a lack of certainty among much of the public, including younger women, and this uncertainty can bring about confusion and hesitancy for people who are making decisions about whether or not to use Tylenol when they’re pregnant,” Montero said.

According to the 2025 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll, Democratic women are more than three times as likely as Republican women to rank public health as their top concern (7 percent vs. 2 percent). According to the KFF survey, this bears out in the different ways each group sees the role of vaccines in public health. Three-quarters of Democrats think that getting children vaccinated is part of a parent’s responsibility to protect the health of others, versus a parent’s personal choice. The majority of Republicans hold the opposite view. 

The Trump administration’s attention to a correlation not backed by rigorous scientific data has led to parents blaming themselves for causing their child’s autism. The cause of autism has not been identified, and it is unlikely there is a single determining factor. Scientists have found that genetics can play a significant role.

Women are less likely than men to respond with definitive answers in surveys, but moms are often better informed about childhood vaccinations. They’re also the people who were counseled to take Tylenol and told that it was safe — because in the vast majority of cases, it is. 

Other survey findings show that while a significant share of Republicans approve of Kennedy (74 percent) and trust him to provide reliable information on vaccines (67 percent), the single most trusted entity across all party identification when it comes to vaccination is a personal doctor. 

KFF has been measuring trust in health institutions since the onset of the pandemic, Montero said. There was large bipartisan trust in the CDC in 2020, but it began dropping for Republicans during Biden’s tenure. It’s notable that Democratic trust in the government has dropped, as well, as it had previously remained steady. 

After a small rise earlier this year, the share of Republicans who trust the CDC is back to what it was in September 2023, during the Biden administration: about 40 percent. Republicans are more likely to trust their state government on vaccine recommendations in red states, according to the KFF survey. 

Trust in state government regarding health advice is stronger among Democrats in blue states than Republicans in red states. A majority of Democrats support states recommending more vaccines than the federal schedule (64 percent), in light of initiatives like the West Coast Vaccine Alliance. 

It’s important to note that people can trust multiple individuals or institutions about health information, and the survey doesn’t necessarily measure the strength of the trust. In other words, someone could trust Kennedy’s word on vaccines but ultimately defer to their pediatrician’s judgment. 

The amount of different information coming from different places — social media, family doctors, state health departments, Health and Human Services, Trump — leads to a lot of confusion, Montero said. But trust in doctors consistently rates the highest. 

“Doctors are the most trusted source of health information among the public, with really, really high shares of trust across partisans as well,” he said. “That puts them in a unique position to communicate to people in this sense.”