Democrats harness vaccinated Americans ire at holdouts as a political force

Democrats face some beastly headwinds as they prepare for next year’s congressional elections, but they believe they’ve got a silver bullet or two: mounting rage against COVID vaccine refuseniks, coupled with smoldering scorn for former President Donald Trump.

Analysts say anger at vaccine resistors helped propel California Gov. Gavin Newsom to a surprisingly strong victory last week in a recall election. In Virginia, gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is trying to harness the same anger as early voting begins there.

“The Newsom campaign was very effective in using the rage against the unvaccinated and the specter of Trumpism to get out Democratic voters,” said Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of politics at the University of Mary Washington. “All indications are that McAuliffe is using the same playbook, and the success in California suggests he might double down on that strategy.”

The surge of delta variant has redrawn and deepened the political battle lines over COVID-19 that seemed to be dissipating just a few months ago.

Vaccinated Americans, who had a taste of 2019-style freedom in the late spring and early summer, are steaming about the return to masks and looking for retribution at the polls.

President Biden is helping draw the lines, reversing his promise not to impose vaccine mandates and ordering federal workers and contractors to get the jab and telling the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to come up with rules to impose a mandate on larger companies.

“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” Mr. Biden fumed.

He brushed aside worries over possible side effects and skirted over the fact the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is only shot that’s fully licensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

His scolding won rave reviews from the vaccinated left, but infuriated conservatives who see it as government overreach at its worst.

The test will be whether conservatives’ anger over mandates matches the left’s vaccination frenzy.

Republican governors across the nation â€" including those who are vaccine proselytizers â€" are lining up to challenge Mr. Biden’s mandates.

That includes New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican who is flirting with launching a challenge next year against Sen. Maggie Hassan, who is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats in 2022.

“I can promise you this: We will be ready for the legal challenges that are likely to come, and New Hampshire will participate one way or another,” Mr. Sununu said. “We need folks to get vaccinated, there’s just no question about that. But this whole, with a sweep of a pen, we’re going to force it on 100 million Americans. … This was not the right approach.”

Voters in New Hampshire are split on the issue, according to a recent poll from St. Anselm College that showed 50% of registered voters supported a vaccination mandate and 47% opposed the idea. The responses fell largely along partisan lines: 85% of Democrats supported the idea; 80% of Republicans opposed it, and “undeclared” voters were evenly divided.

In Virginia, Mr. McAuliffe is betting that voters are more favorable to mandates in Virginia where the current governor, fellow Democrat Ralph Northam, announced last month that he will require universal masking in all K-12 schools to combat the virus.

A Monmouth University poll released this week found that 67% of registered voters in Virginia support the school mask mandate and 58% would approve of requiring children age 12 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend school.

Another national poll from Monmouth this week showed that most Americans support Mr. Biden’s push to force people to get the shot, with 63% backing the mandate for health care workers; 58% backing it for federal workers; and 55% supporting it for government contractors.

A majority also supported requiring proof of vaccination to enter an airplane, indoor arenas and workplaces, but less support for doing the same with restaurants and outdoor entertainment venues.

The divide over COVID-19 requirements has led to fierce debates and ugly encounters outside the political arena.

The New York Post reported this week that three women from Texas attacked a hostess at an Italian eatery in Manhattan after being asked to prove they were vaccinated.

The city requires people 12 and older to show proof of vaccination before they can eat indoors at restaurants.

In the Virginia governor’s race, Mr. McAuliffe has signaled confidence he’s on the right side of the issue and pounced on the chance to make that clear in his first debate with Mr. Youngkin, the Republican nominee.

“I am for requiring and mandating vaccination,” he said. “He is not.”

Mr. McAuliffe took things a step further, advocating for expanding vaccine mandates to include students over the age of 12.

Mr. Youngkin countered that he is a “strong” advocate for vaccines but said it should be left up to individuals â€" including frontline health care workers â€" to decide whether or not to get a shot.

“I respect your ability to make decisions,” he told the debate’s viewers.

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