Republicans warned their self-destructive COVID behavior is 'killing off their voter base'

[Soph0571]

Leonhardt explains, "A Pew Research Center 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."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75% of U.S.-based adults have been at least partially vaccinated for COVID-19. But vaccination rates can vary considerably from one state to another. The Mayo Clinic reports that rates for at least partial vaccination range from 77% in Vermont to 49% in Mississippi, 46% in Idaho and 52% in Alabama. Vermont is a deep blue state with a moderate Republican governor, while Mississippi, Idaho and Alabama are deep red states that former President Donald Trump won by a landslide in 2020.
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Leonhardt notes that the Delta variant has been especially deadly in Republican areas.

"Since Delta began circulating widely in the U.S.," according to Leonhardt, "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."

[link:https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/anti-vaxxers-2655186543/|]
Emphasis mine

The numbers speak for themselves. Killing the base to own the libs...

[bif]

1. Sweet! Keep it up folks!

[marble falls]

2. It comes frome a "whatever you got, I'm against it attitude", whether it kills them or not.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I don't think they're worried

They’re counting on dirty tricks to win elections - not voter turnout.

[bottomofthehill]

4. Can't happen soon enough.

[lindysalsagal]

5. 21st century mob hysteria weaponized. And it's getting the gqp what, exactly?

[Walleye]

6. That is a really good question they have yet to answer. Seems everything is revenge based

[Johnny2X2X]

7. It will take some hardcore analysis

But I'd bet the vaccine hesitant right now are even more political than polls suggest. That the people who are not getting vaccinated now are almost exclusively Trump voters and politically active. And that the demographics of non Trump voters who aren't vaccinated skew towards people who simply don't vote.

There are certainly political number crunchers who are looking at this stuff. In fact, if the last 100,000 people who've died from Covid were looked at statistically, I'd guess that 30,000 of them are non voters, and of the 70,000 that are active voters, I'd bet you'd be looking at 69,500 of them as reliable Republican voters. And this is going to continue unabated until this is over.

Of the 700,000 deaths, if 500,000 are active voters, I'd bet 425,000 of them are Republican voters. The GOP is down a significant number of reliable voters and that number is growing. It absolutely could make a difference in places like FL, TX, and GA.

[lagomorph777]

8. Yup: swing states and swing districts won't have the highest death tolls...

But they will have the most relevant demographic shifts resulting from COVID deaths. I also think long-haulers will be weakened and less likely to be politically active.

[Ilsa]

10. The bulk of the first 600,000 was pre-vaccine.

But I bet many didn't mask or observe social distancing.

I would bet on your estimation for post-vaccine roll-out.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. First 425,000 or so

Vaccine became widely available January/February when the most vulnerable were getting it quickly, especially after Biden ramped up the efforts. The little less than 300,000 deaths since are likely very skewed towards Republican voters. But I agree, the first 425,000 or so weren't as skewed, but still probably skewed towards people who refused to mask and social distance. Or groups that gathered while refusing to mask and social distance.

That first 100,000 or so was probably more 50-50 as it hit before we know how to protect people from it.

In the end, this could very well flip some close statewide elections in places like GA, FL, TX, and MI.

[Wednesdays]

13. It's not making much of a difference...yet

There were 74 million tRump voters in 2020. In order to even make a 5% dent in that number, more than 3.7 million of them would have to succumb to Covid.

[Johnny2X2X]

14. State by state

In Georgia for instance, Biden won by 11,000 votes. 25,000 Georgians have died of Covid. If those dead skew Trump voters by 5,000, Biden's margin of victory could have been 16,000.

Florida was about a 350,000 margin of victory for Trump, Florida also is lying about their Covid deaths, that margin could have been shaved to under 300K. And think governor and Senate elections in 2022. Some of those races are going to be razor thin. 10,000 less Trump voters could swing a state.

[NJCher]

26. it makes a difference!

when you get down to pinpointing, one can see that it has an effect. Thanks for doing those figures.

It is Covid deaths in swing states that make a difference.

[LymphocyteLover]

31. Yes, agree-- some of these races are won and lost by razor thin margins

[PatSeg]

9. Oops!

They should have seen that coming. Rule #1 - Don't kill off your voters!

[Baitball Blogger]

11. It took them this long? Really?

Why would anyone want these people controlling every aspect of their lives, through government?

[MissB]

15. It's pretty stark on this map

Link to tweet

?s=20

Link takes you to a tweet by The Oregonian, Oregon’s main newspaper. It shows a chart of infections (not deaths) per 100k, and the reddest parts of the state are the ones clearly hit the hardest.

[LymphocyteLover]

32. there's a lot of analysis showing how the redder the county (how much they voted for Trump)

how much worse their COVID rates are.

There was a NYTimes piece on this a couple days ago.

[LiberatedUSA]

20. Come election time...

…they’ll have to start stacking kids in trench coats to make up for the votes lost to Covid.

[Paladin]

21. Always a silver lining---even with a world-wide plague. (nt)

[IronLionZion]

22. Owning themselves to own the libs

[fescuerescue]

23. We gosh. Let's just completely open up everything then

It's only going to kill people who vote the wrong way.

So why are we even trying to slow Covid down?

Let's kick it in gear and hope for a 50 state victory in 2024!


(yes that's sarcasm. I really hate threads where political joy is taken over people dying)

[Hortensis]

24. If only it was killing off their base. An unfortunately pleasant thought,

but we have to be realistic. It's not enough to matter, and Democrats are also among the totals dying in those red states.

They both lost voters and gained some previous nonvoters in 2020, though. Hopefully, they'll have a net loss in 2022, a few who died but most who decided not to vote Republican. To say they have reason is the understatement of the century.

[LymphocyteLover]

28. Republicans are definitely losing more voters but... keeping the pandemic going is bad for all of us

& we shouldn't be rooting for people to die

[Hortensis]

34. We really shouldn't. Many are also leaving devastated children behind,

as well as elders who need them.

[Hortensis]

35. Yes, we really shouldn't. Many are also leaving devastated children behind,

as well as elders who need them.


"Look for mean people." Main indication of nations in danger of falling to RW authoritarianism.

[cilla4progress]

25. Ultimate self-own.

I really don't think Melania cares, do you?

[LymphocyteLover]

27. womp womp.... OTOH, who needs voters when you can rig elections and overturn results you don't like?

[andym]

29. The dead are what the Soviets called "useful idiots" to the GOP

47 out of 100,000 in Trump counties is the highest number and that is only 0.047%. So It doesn't really affect their ability to win elections, but the ongoing pandemic hurts the economy which they believe will reflect badly on Democrats.

[dlk]

30. Republicans are too far down this road to make a u-turn now

They have fully committed to their current destructive course.

[James48]

33. I'm ok with that.

I didn’t used to be for them killing off themselves.

But at this point- hey, I tried to tell them.

It’s all on them now. I did my part.