Covidiot

Guys, when we started saying that the GOP was a Death Cult, well, we were exaggerating to make a point.  Well, they’ve totally PWN’ED US! (Emphasis mine)

The [Kaiser Family Foundation] COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor and other surveys have consistently shown a strong relationship between partisan identification and how individuals view and experience the COVID-19 pandemic, on questions ranging from worries about getting infected, to self-reported behaviors like mask-wearing and social distancing, to views on vaccinations. This new analysis shows that although COVID-19 vaccination rates have increased over time with majorities across partisan groups reporting being vaccinated, Republicans make up an increasingly disproportionate share of those who remain unvaccinated and political partisanship is a stronger predictor of whether someone is vaccinated than demographic factors such as age, race, level of education, or insurance status.

It’s that Colbert maxim about reality having a liberal bias.

Partisanship has been a strong predictor of views on coronavirus from the early days of the pandemic. For example, KFF polling in May 2020 found that Republicans were less likely than Democrats to report wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Early views of the COVID-19 vaccine were similarly divided along party lines with a majority of Republicans saying they would not get vaccinated in September 2020 (compared to Democrats who were more equally divided in whether they would or would not get a COVID-19 vaccine once it became available).

A lot of that had to deal with the perceived competence of the 4th Reich (which was still in office in 2020), is my guess. I know I said I wouldn’t be first in line for the vaccine. And I don’t think I was alone.

By April 2021, a majority of U.S. adults (56%) self-reported they had already received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Among the 43% of adults who said at that time that they had not yet been vaccinated, about four in ten (42%) identified as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents and about one-third (36%) identified as Democrats or leaned that way, while 16% identified as independents who didn’t lean toward either party. The partisan divide between vaccinated and unvaccinated adults became even more evident as larger shares of the population received COVID-19 vaccines. Now, six months later, in October 2021, one-quarter (27%) of U.S. adults say they have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, but the unvaccinated population is now disproportionately made up of those who identify as Republican or Republican-leaning, with six in ten (60%) identifying as Republican or Republican-leaning (compared to about four in ten of the U.S. total adult population¹) and just one in six (17%) calling themselves Democrats or Democratic-leaning.

That’s incredible. That’s not statistical noise, and I would say 60% goes beyond a trend to being predictive. But here’s the chart that stunned me:

Only 3% of Republicans give a shit about protecting the health of others. Let that sink in for just a moment.

97% of ’em are sociopaths, is the only way to interpret that. They believe that they owe nothing to society and have no responsibility to help protect others.

The increasing role of partisanship in determining individuals’ COVID-19 vaccination status presents a challenge for public health officials and messaging related to any efforts to further increase vaccine uptake among adults. The group that remains to be convinced of the importance of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is disproportionately represented by those who identify as or lean Republican. Compared to their vaccinated counterparts, these unvaccinated Republicans are distinguished by the voting behavior of their neighbors, their sense that the pandemic is being over-stated, and their lack of a sense of personal risk: factors that may be extremely difficult to overcome in gaining acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines. These findings may also have implications as the vaccine rollout expands to younger children and the CDC recommends booster shots for some adult populations. With most vaccinated Republicans saying they’re not worried about getting sick and 38% of fully vaccinated Republicans saying they do not plan to get a booster shot when eligible, it seems likely that partisanship will continue to play a role in the vaccine rollout beyond the initial effort to vaccinate the adult population.

In other words, the pandemic is here to stay… until they die out.

UPDATE 1: The WaPo – (emphasis mine)

“This is the strangest political cause of my lifetime. In the midst of a public health emergency that has taken more than 1 of every 500 American lives and which has reduced average life expectancy by 1.67 years (reversing about 14 years of life expectancy gains), Republican officials are actively discouraging citizens from taking routine medical precautions for their own welfare. This is not just a disagreement about policy. It is a political movement organized around increasing the risk of death to your neighbors, particularly your ill and elderly ones. And while it is certainly selfish, is not ultimately self-interested. Fatalities have increased especially in Republican-leaning portions of the country. A death cult has adopted a death wish.”