Study: COVID-19 is Killing Off Likely Republican Voters At a Faster Rate Than Realized

When COVID-19 first came to America, it affected people of all political affiliations. The bluest states in the country, like California, New York and New Jersey were hi particularly hard.

Once the vaccine became available, people in California and the North East were quick to take advantage of it. People in states where Donald Trump received a large share of the vote were less likely to get their shots.

As a result, red state have been hit disproportionately hard. Still, there is a major resistance in these areas to get treated. According to a new study by David Leonhardt, this could have a negative affect come election time.

The New York Times scribe notes, “A Pew Research Poll last month found that 86% of Democratic voters had received at least one shot, compared with 60% of Republican voters. The political divide over vaccinations is so large that almost every reliably blue state now has a higher vaccination rate than almost every reliably red state.”

Leonhardt continues, “Since Delta began circulating widely in the U.S., COVID has exacted a horrific death toll on red America: In counties where Donald Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote, the virus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June, according to Charles Gaba, a health care analyst. In counties where Trump won less than 32 percent of the vote, the number is about 10 out of 100,000.”

Despite these numbers, both Republican lawmakers and Conservative media members have continued to push vaccine hesitancy. That may matter in certain areas come 2022 and 2024.