American voters went to the polls totally divided on how they view President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with a surprising twist: In places where the virus is most rampant now, Trump enjoyed enormous support.
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An Associated Press (AP) analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority – 93 percent of those counties – opted for Trump, a higher rate than other less affected areas. Most were rural areas in Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Taking note of the contrast, state health officials are pausing for a moment of introspection. Even as they worry about the increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths, they hope to reframe their messages and aim for a restoration of public opinion now that the elections are over.
“Public health officials need to step back, listen and understand people who do not take the same position” about the use of masks and other control measures, said Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of Health Officials State and Territorial.
“I think there is a possibility that things will become less burdensome and divisive,” he said, adding that there is a possibility that a redesigned public health message could unify Americans around reducing the number of cases so that hospitals are not flooded during the winter months.
The AP’s analysis was limited to counties in which at least 95 percent of precincts had reported results and grouped the counties into six categories based on the rates of Covid-19 cases they had experienced per 100,000 residents.
Polls also show that voters who are split between Republican Trump and Democrat Joe Biden differ on whether the pandemic is under control.
Thirty-six percent of Trump voters described the pandemic as fully or mostly under control, and another 47 percent said it was somewhat under control, according to AP VoteCast, a national poll of more than 110,000 voters conducted for AP by NORC at the University of Chicago. Meanwhile, 82 percent of Biden voters said the pandemic is by no means under control.
The pandemic was considered at least somewhat controlled by a slim majority of voters in many red states, including Alabama (60 percent), Missouri (54 percent), Mississippi (58 percent), Kentucky (55 percent), Texas ( 55 percent), Tennessee (56 percent) and South Carolina (56 percent).
In Wisconsin, where the virus soared just before the election, 57 percent said the pandemic was not under control. In Washington state, where the virus is more under control now compared to the beginning of the year, 55 percent said the same.
Voters in New York and New Hampshire, where the virus is now more under control after the first few waves, were divided in their assessments, similar to voters across the country.
Trump voters interviewed by AP reporters said they value individual freedom and believe the president is doing as well as anyone could in response to the coronavirus.
Michaela Lane, a 25-year-old Republican, dropped off her ballot last week at a polling place at an outdoor mall in Phoenix. He cast his vote for Trump.
“I feel like the most important issue facing the country as a whole is freedom in general,” Lane said. “Infringing on the freedom of the people, the overriding of the government, the overreaching of the government, the chaos in many of the problems that are happening today and just giving the people their rights back.
About half of Trump’s voters rated the economy and jobs as the top problem facing the nation, roughly double the percentage that named the pandemic, according to VoteCast. By contrast, the majority of Biden’s voters, roughly six in 10, said the pandemic was the biggest problem.
Read also | US Presidential Elections Expose America’s ‘Dangerous’ Divisions.
In Madison, Wisconsin, Eric Engstrom, a 31-year-old investment analyst, and his wife, Gwen, voted absentee by mail in early October.
Trump’s failure to control the pandemic sealed his vote for Biden, Engstrom said, calling the coronavirus the most immediate threat facing the nation. He and his wife are expecting their first child, a girl, in January and fear “the possibility that one of us or both of us will get sick when the baby is born,” he said.
Since the onset of the pandemic, 74 state and local public health officials in 31 states have resigned, retired or been fired, according to an ongoing analysis by AP and Kaiser Health News.
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