These new numbers are great for President Biden, not good for Republicans
President Biden continues to earn high marks for his work on coronavirus according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. The President’s numbers are virtually the same as they were in April, which one could see as either good or bad, but the biggest problem he has right now is getting the remainder of the population vaccinated. Most holdouts are Republican voters, which brings up an interesting question. Are they refusing the vaccine because a Democrat is overseeing the rollout or do the question the efficacy of the vaccine?
When President Biden ran for office, he assured us that he would make the pandemic his priority, and he has done that. He almost reached his self-imposed deadline of 70% vaccinated (at least one vaccine) by July 4. According to Healthline, he fell short by 3%. As Healthline reported, while this sounds like a small percentage, it represents 3.4 to 5.2 million that still need to be vaccinated. People who wanted the vaccine did so as soon as it became available to them. We now face variants that are more contagious and more deadly than the original virus, and it is going to require everyone be vaccinated for us to reach herd immunity. So, what is the holdup?
According to the Post-ABC poll, 29% of those surveyed said they are “not likely” to get vaccinated. When you look at those numbers based on political affiliation, the numbers are striking. 86% of Democrats have received at least one shot while 45% of Republicans have received one. Another 7% of Democrats said that they will likely be vaccinated at some point, but only 4% of unvaccinated Republicans plan to be vaccinated. Independents have also been vaccinated at the rate of 54%, with 11% planning to be vaccinated. The interesting numbers manifest in the category of “are not likely to be vaccinated,” which includes 6% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans. Perhaps they still believe the hoax nonsense that Trump started.
When asked about the Delta variant, 45% believe that U.S. officials are being honest about the risk while 35% say the warnings are “exaggerated.” Broken down among party lines, the numbers reveal that 57% of Republicans think this information is exaggerated while 39% of independents and 12% of Democrats believe in the exaggeration theory. In the good news department, 6 in 10 Americans believe their communities have significantly moved in the right direction in recovering from the pandemic, and a majority of 56% believe we have learned from this pandemic such that we will not face this type of crisis in the future. It helps to have honest people in office who respect the American people enough to tell the truth.
President Joe Biden has made significant strides in his vow to battle the pandemic. He has kept his promise, but he cannot force people to take the vaccine, which is what is holding us back right now. Hopefully, Republicans will come to their senses and take the vaccine so that we can get back to life as normal.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years