The messaging surrounding the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines has been an absolute dumpster fire. We still have Biden administration officials refusing to tell people they can return to normal after getting vaccinated. Then there was the extremely damaging pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a ridiculous, anti-science move based on blood clots forming in about one out of every million people injected. We still haven’t recovered from that, and it’s clear that the move hurt public perception.

Despite that, the media and Democrats have latched onto one group to blame for the lag in vaccine distribution. You see, it’s gotta be those stupid, uneducated Trump voters who are hesitant.

Of course, the idea that more rural, Trump-voting counties weren’t getting vaccinated as quickly is easily explained. For one, they are rural, which means distribution is tougher because people are more spread out. Further, people who aren’t in major urban areas, interacting with large crowds regularly, simply won’t feel the same urgency to go wait in line for a vaccine. It doesn’t mean they are anti-vaccination or that they won’t eventually get it.

Regardless, the talking point that it’s just evil Republican rubes who are vaccine-hesitant just got nuked by an unlikely source. CNN is reporting that vaccine hesitancy spans the political spectrum and that Democrats are actually more likely to fall into that group.

"The vaccine hesitant group

doesn't really lean Republican.

Just 20% of the group called themselves R with an additional 19% being I's who leaned R. The clear majority (61%) were not Rs (41% said they were Ds or D leaning)…"
https://t.co/Gq0F3sOaqp

— Heather Champion (@winningatmylife) May 10, 2021

The truth is that vaccine hesitancy has always encompassed a wide swath of the political landscape. I’m not here to argue how right or wrong that viewpoint is, but rather to note that not everything fits our political priors. Upper-crust liberal demographics on the west coast have long included anti-vaxxers, and another one of the mostly unspoken truths about the current vaccine hesitancy is that it’s prevalent within the African-American community. But that doesn’t fit the left’s narrative so they sweep that under the rug (or blame racism) while they squeal about “MAGAts” killing everyone.

In the end, this poll shows that Democrats are worse than Republicans when it comes to vaccine hesitancy. Further, it shows that any attempt to politicize that hesitancy is misguided and ill-informed.

Most of all, though, it shows how much of a failure the Biden administration has been when it comes to vaccines. They were handed one of the keys to ending the pandemic by the Trump administration. Instead of promoting normalcy and following the science, Biden and his cohorts have followed hysteria and nonsensical mitigation proclamations. That’s far more responsible for vaccine hesitancy in regards to the coronavirus than someone’s political affiliation.