It’s crazy, but also *very* revealing, how partisan the response is to the COVID-19 pandemic. First, check this out – that’s right, “Concern about #COVID19 is now partisan: Democrats fear the #pandemic, Republican think the #coronavirus is no big deal.” And no, as Laurie Garrett (“Former Sr Fellow @CFR_org. Recipient of Pulitzer Prize, Polk (2Xs) and Peabody Awards. Author: IHeard theSirensScream, TheComingPlague, Ebola & BetrayalofTrust.”) points out in her tweet, “This is not science.”
To the contrary, it seems that Republicans are continuing their well-earned reputation for being the science denier and science “skeptic” party, while most Democrats respect and listen to scientific evidence. Of course, there’s also the fact that Republicans much more heavily get their news from a heavily fact-free, science-hostile, right-wing echo chamber.
With that in mind, check out those polling numbers from Civiqs, with Democrats in state after state far more likely than Republicans to say they are “extremely concerned” about the coronavirus outbreak in their state. For Virginia-specific numbers, see below the screenshot of Garrett’s tweet.
In Virginia, here are the numbers:
- Among Dems, 58% are “extremely concerned” and 29% “moderately concerned,” with just 2% “not concerned at all and 10% “a little concerned.” That puts Virginia Dems among the highest states in terms of “extremely concerned.”
- Among Independents, 36% are “extremely concerned” and 33% “moderately concerned,” with just 9% “not concerned at all” and 21% “a little concerned.”
- Among Republicans, only 20% are “extremely concerned,” along with another 36% who are “moderately concerned,” and with 15% “not concerned at all” (another 28% are just “a little concerned”). Although absurdly low, the 20% “extremely concerned” number among Virginia Republicans places them among the highest states in the country. I mean, check out Arkansas Republicans, for instance, who are down in the 10% range. Crazy.
- Also note that the “extremely concerned” numbers appear to have mostly leveled off for Ds, Rs and Is, while the “moderately concerned” number appears to be increasing a bit for Rs.
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