Washington DC, January 15, 2025—A new Ipsos poll finds that while a majority of Americans are familiar with the use of fluoride in the U.S. water supply, a plurality doesn’t know if fluoride is currently being added to the water supplying their home. The poll also finds that while a plurality doesn’t know if the use of fluoride in public water supplies is harmful or detrimental for the public, Americans are more likely to say the fluoride use is healthy or beneficial to the public rather than harmful or detrimental.

Detailed findings

  • A majority of Americans (57%) are familiar with the use of fluoride in U.S. water supplies.
    • Familiarity with the use of fluoride in the water supply is lower among Americans ages 18-34 (43%), Americans with incomes under $50k (45%), Americans with a high school degree or less (44%), and Black (46%) and Hispanic (49%) Americans.
    • Fewer (40%) say they are familiar with the discussions around banning the use of fluoride in U.S. public water supplies, levels that are consistent across most demographic groups.
  • Just under half of Americans are unsure if fluoride is currently being added to water supplying their home.
    • One in three Americans (34%) say fluoride is currently being added to their water supply, 17% say fluoride is not being added to their water supply, and 48% say they don’t know.
    • Rural Americans are the most likely to say fluoride is not being added to their water supply (44% is not being added, 15% is being added), while urban (6%, 40%) and suburban Americans (15%, 37%) are more likely to say fluoride is being added to their water supply.
    • Hispanic (62%) and Black (59%) respondents are more likely than white respondents (44%) to say they don’t know if fluoride is being added to their water supply.

Americans are mixed on the impact of fluoride in public water supplies.

  • One in three (34%) say fluoride use is healthy or beneficial for the public, compared to 15% that say it is harmful or detrimental and 9% that say it has no real impact. However, a plurality say they don’t know (41%) if fluoride is healthy or harmful.
  • Urban respondents (37%) are more likely to say fluoride use is healthy or beneficial compared to rural respondents (28%).
  • Similarly, white respondents (38%) are more likely to say fluoride use is healthy or beneficial compared to Black (24%) and Hispanic (26%) respondents.

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted from January 2 to January 5, 2025, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,016 adults age 18 or older. The sample includes 378 Urban respondents, 452 Suburban respondents, and 186 Rural respondents. The sample also includes 680 White, non-Hispanic respondents; 101 Black, non-Hispanic respondents; and 146 Hispanic respondents; 89 respondents who did not fit into these categories were not shown on this document due to insufficient sample size (N<100).

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The study was conducted in English. The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. Party ID benchmarks are from the 2024 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2023 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).

  • Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
  • Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
  • Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
  • Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
  • Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
  • Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
  • Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.14.

The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

Original article online at: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/many-americans-are-unsure-if-fluoride-being-added-their-water-supply