A new study by Axios-Ipsos shows that the American people could not possibly be more divided on how to handle COVID. The poll does make clear that if the Democrats want to win in November, they are going to have to find some kind of messaging that all but gives up on attempting to force vaccinations of the radical anti-vaxers and pull back on some restrictions to let the unreachable suffer the fate they have chosen.
It is cold, dispassionate, calculated, and perhaps a bit callous position, but it is also political reality. Democrats can continue to pound their head against the wall, complaining about the MAGAs’ lack of faith in science and compliance, or simply learn to live with it and somehow try to keep our medical institutions open and functioning at an acceptable level.
The poll sets out the cold-hard truth:
21% of the nation says open the country as normal, no mandates, or anything addressing COVID.
29% Say move toward opening with some precautions
23% Are for mostly keeping cautions and requirements in place
21% Believe in increasing max masking and vaccinations
As is obvious, if the Democrats want to win in November, their message best includes; “We are transitioning back to normalcy,” even if Biden and the Democrats remain steadfast in vaccination requirements. It appears that a possible summer pullback in the Omicron wave might help toward that end.
Obviously, everyone has COVID fatigue. Of course. But only a small minority want to press hard for a few months to do what would need to be done to largely eradicate it and – as we’ve seen all too often, there is no means by which to force people to do the right thing when it comes to injections or masks.
The biggest concern should be keeping our health system stable with extra funding and federal support to tamper down “hotspots.” Obviously, it is tragic. The Biden administration was doubling its goals early in the administration, it looked like we were 90 days away from utter normalcy.
But, while it is clear that the vaccinations save lives, it’s also been clear that the variants can get the vaccinated sick and passing the virus (often unknowingly). The variants, given an opening due to some peoples’ refusal to get vaxed, have largely assured us that this is the new flu. It will be a pain for us to get biannual boosters, and possibly five days off work, but it’s preferable to the fate awaiting a percentage of those who choose another course.
And in the end, this isn’t a public health analysis. Again, it is cold, hard, political reality. The Democrats better continue to say we’re pushing toward normalcy and throw in a few minor policies that demonstrate it, or they will get shellacked in November and ensure the reality that the Democrats will simply hand the Congress back over to people who would really maximize potential COVID damage into the future.
Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest as a dual Canadian-American citizen, which he grows increasingly thankful for every day. He now enjoys life as a single dad, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast, getting advice from his beloved daughter and teammate. He is very much the dreamy mystic that cannot add and loves dogs more than most people. He also likes studying cooking, theoretical physics, cosmology, and quantum mechanics. He likes pizza.
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