A transparent majority of People (69%) agree that “autism is a posh situation that may’t be diminished to a single trigger,” in line with a brand new Yahoo/YouGov ballot.
That quantity contains 59% of Republicans.
But final week President Trump declared that his administration had “discovered a solution to autism” — then linked the neurological dysfunction to Tylenol and different acetaminophen-based ache relievers throughout a high-profile occasion with Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (The Yahoo/YouGov ballot was performed from Sept. 25 to 29, shortly after the occasion.)
“Do not take Tylenol. Do not take it. Struggle like hell to not take it,” the president instructed pregnant ladies. As a substitute, he urged them to “robust it out” after they expertise ache.
On the similar time, Kennedy continued to advertise the totally debunked declare that childhood vaccines trigger autism, saying that there can be “no areas of taboo” in future analysis.
“One space we’re carefully inspecting is vaccines,” Kennedy mentioned. “We shall be uncompromising and relentless in our seek for solutions.”
“There’s one thing synthetic,” Trump added. “They’re taking one thing.”
However whereas the brand new Yahoo/YouGov survey of 1,676 U.S. adults exhibits some openness to the concept that “autism charges are rising largely due to one thing that youngsters are being uncovered to” — 41% say they agree, 31% say they disagree and 28% are uncertain — most People don’t settle for single-cause explanations for autism. As an example:
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Solely 17% agree that “vaccines trigger autism”; 56% disagree and 26% are uncertain
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Solely 15% agree that “Tylenol and different medicines that comprise acetaminophen trigger autism”; 49% disagree and 36% are uncertain
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Simply 3% “strongly” agree that Tylenol and different acetaminophen-based ache relievers trigger autism
In consequence, comparatively few People (25%) say they might discourage pregnant ladies from taking Tylenol. Most say they might both encourage the observe (16%) or stay impartial (48%).
What does the science say?
A half-century of analysis exhibits that autism spectrum dysfunction is “a posh neurodevelopmental situation that arises from a constellation of genetic elements and environmental influences,” as Scientific American just lately put it. Most public well being officers attribute rising charges to a broader definition of the dysfunction — together with elevated screening and consciousness — somewhat than some form of toxin.
Current research have come to conflicting conclusions about acetaminophen. In August, the journal BMC Environmental Well being printed a assessment of the prevailing analysis — together with six research on the affiliation between prenatal acetaminophen use and the danger of ASD in youngsters — that purported to search out “robust proof of a relationship” between the drug and the dysfunction.
The paper was coauthored by Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, the dean of Harvard’s T.H. Chan College of Public Well being, and it finally really useful “considered acetaminophen use — lowest efficient dose, shortest period — beneath medical steerage, tailor-made to particular person risk-benefit assessments.”
Final week, the Meals and Drug Administration issued new, official steerage echoing that suggestion. “The precautionary precept could lead many to keep away from utilizing acetaminophen throughout being pregnant, particularly since most low-grade fevers do not require therapy,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary mentioned in an announcement. “It stays cheap, nevertheless, for pregnant ladies to make use of acetaminophen in sure situations.”
But a big 2024 examine, which checked out almost 2.5 million folks born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019, concluded that “acetaminophen use throughout being pregnant was not related to youngsters’s danger of autism.”
As a substitute, because the American Faculty of Obstetricians and Gynecologists mentioned final week in an announcement, “the circumstances folks use acetaminophen to deal with throughout being pregnant are way more harmful than any theoretical dangers” from the drugs itself.
Do People belief medical recommendation from Trump and RFK Jr.?
Throughout final week’s occasion, Trump didn’t present any new proof to again up his administration’s new suggestions.
“I all the time had very robust emotions about autism and the way it occurred and the place it got here from,” the president insisted. “We understood much more than lots of people who studied it.”
But ballot outcomes counsel People are hesitant to take medical recommendation from Trump. A full 64% say they would not belief such recommendation “in any respect”; one other 10% say they might belief it solely “a bit.” A mere 6% say they might belief the president’s medical recommendation “a fantastic deal.”
Even half of Republicans (50%) say they might belief medical recommendation from Trump solely a bit or by no means.
Kennedy’s belief numbers are related: 66% “by no means”; 12% “a bit”; simply 8% “a fantastic deal.”
The administration’s current pronouncements on Tylenol and autism additionally coincide with a unfavorable shift in Kennedy’s favorable ranking. In August, 40% of People seen Kennedy favorably; 46% seen him unfavorably. At present, these numbers are 36% and 49% respectively.
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The Yahoo survey was performed by YouGov utilizing a nationally consultant pattern of 1,676 U.S. adults interviewed on-line from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29, 2025. The pattern was weighted in line with gender, age, race, training, 2024 election turnout and presidential vote, celebration identification and present voter registration standing. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Group Survey. Occasion identification is weighted to the estimated distribution on the time of the election (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). Respondents have been chosen from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be consultant of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is roughly 3%.