The Biden administration has targeted a "disinformation dozen" of vaccine skeptics operating on social media, and CNN has emphasized that Fox News viewers are more likely to oppose vaccination. The results of this research may surprise those who have been told that the battle over vaccinations is primarily a question of partisanship or, alternatively, is about where someone gets their news. Or the likelihood that rising education - from those with a high school degree or less to those with graduate degrees - accounts for vaccine refusal. Or the likelihood that one is not vaccinated based on party identification, Democrat or Republican. For example, I can estimate the percent likelihood that age predicts being unvaccinated, moving from the oldest group of Americans - those 60 and older - to younger adults in the 18-29 age group. For the Marist poll, additional demographic factors included religious affiliation (for evangelical Christians) and region of the country.īy statistically "controlling" (in social science terms) for all these factors simultaneously within a regression analysis, I am able to measure the percent likelihood that each variable is associated with being vaccinated or unvaccinated, other factors considered. To provide a clearer answer, I undertook an original statistical "regression" analysis of mid-2021 surveys, one a Marist poll, another from Axios - both completed in June - which asked Americans about their vaccination status, while collecting information on other demographic and personal behavioral factors.įor the Axios poll, Americans' political behavior was gauged in relation to their reliance on various media venues, including social media like Facebook and Twitter, the elite agenda-setting press (The New York Times), cable viewership (CNN, MSNBC and Fox News), and broadcast television (ABC, CBS, NBC News), in addition to various demographics, including political party identification, gender, race, education level and income. But without a careful analysis of the raw data from national surveys, it's not possible to tell how much each factor accounts for the enduring national divide over vaccination. These are all large divides between groups - of 20 percentage points or more. RELATED: "Don't, don't, don't": Trump lashes out after crowd boos him for getting COVID booster And 66 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds reported vaccination, compared to 86 percent of those 65 and older. Sixty-six percent of high school graduates said they were vaccinated, compared to 86 percent of those with graduate degrees. Sixty percent of Republicans reported being vaccinated, compared to 86 percent of Democrats. National polling in September found large divides on COVID vaccination on numerous demographic fronts, based on education, political party and age. Stories placing partisanship at the center of the conflict are everywhere, with titles like: " Inside the Growing Alliance Between Anti-Vaccine Activists and Pro-Trump Republicans," " Republicans Seize on Federal Vaccine Mandates to Fire Up Their Base and Try to Court New Voters Worried About the Economy" and " The Biggest Divide on Vaccination Isn't Race or Income, But Party - and the Divide is Growing."ĭespite the preoccupation with partisan conflict, available evidence suggests that the conflict over vaccination is not what we think it is. And one doesn't have to go far to see headlines emphasizing the partisan nature of anti-vax sentiment. Reporting from the first week and a half of December found that only 12 percent of new COVID-19 cases were from omicron alarmingly, that had skyrocketed to 73 percent of new cases by the end of the third week of the month.Īmerica is seriously divided on the vaccination question. relative to other wealthy countries, the CDC recommends that all Americans get vaccinated as the best means of protecting against severe illness from the variant, which has quickly overtaken delta as the dominant COVID strain in the U.S. Considering the generally low levels of vaccination in the U.S. The dramatic rise of the omicron variant has renewed medical experts' warnings about the need for Americans to start taking the pandemic more seriously.
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