The Anti-Vaxx Movement Is Taking Over the Republican Party

The anti-vaccine rhetoric pushed by Republican politicians is working. According to a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, approximately six in 10 Republicans say they disapprove of President Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates that require most workers to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing.

The poll, released Thursday, found that a very narrow majority of Americans, 51 percent, approve of Biden’s plan while 34 percent of respondents said they disapprove. Fourteen percent had no opinion.

Democrats, on the other hand, overwhelmingly favor Biden’s vaccine requirements, with three-quarters of them approving. Overall, approximately two-thirds of Americans said they are at least somewhat confident that the Covid-19 vaccines provide protection against infection.

Many Republican politicians also oppose vaccine mandates, even officials who are themselves vaccinated, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has held events where he invited anti-vaxx activists to speak and stood by while they spread blatant lies about the vaccine.

“I don’t believe the federal government should have a say in me having to get the vaccine or lose my job or get tested,” an unvaccinated firefighter and Republican Emilio Rodriguez told the AP.

But for Democrats like Sarah Carver, the decision was relatively simple: “I believe Dr. Fauci,” she told the AP.