We all know that wearing masks became a partisan divide during the pandemic, with right-wingers refusing to wear masks, and QAnon folks swearing that the masks were part of a conspiracy. The more fiercely Trumpian a county, the less likely you would see masks in general use.
And now, Kentuckians are doing the same thing with getting vaccinated.
I pulled the latest vaccination numbers by county from the New York Times web site, and saw that while the overall state is at 40% vaccinated, many, many counties are under that number. (The average gets pulled up by the higher vaccination rates in the more populous counties.)
Then, I pulled the Trump vote percentage in the 2020 election, by county, from Politico.
Finally, I put them all into a table, and checked the correlation coefficient. There was a negative correlation of -0.689, which is relatively strong. (A negative correlation means that the more likely you are to vote for Trump, the less likely you are to get vaccinated.)
And, just for fun, I created a chart as well, and added a trendline. It’s pretty clear.
Trump’s failed leadership in the pandemic, including his unwillingness to put in place a national mask mandate, not only caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths due to COVID. It continues to affect his followers in multiple negative ways – and refusing to get a vaccine is one of those ongoing negative impacts.
For years, I heard how Republicans were the “adults in the room.” It seems apparent that the adults are the ones getting vaccinated … and Republicans aren’t among them.
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The Data
County | % Fully Vacc | Trump %age |
---|---|---|
Adair | 26% | 83.00% |
Allen | 28% | 81.00% |
Anderson | 41% | 72.90% |
Ballard | 23% | 79.40% |
Barren | 31% | 73.10% |
Bath | 36% | 70.80% |
Bell | 31% | 81.00% |
Boone | 43% | 66.90% |
Bourbon | 39% | 64.20% |
Boyd | 30% | 65.80% |
Boyle | 42% | 61.30% |
Bracken | 33% | 80.10% |
Breathitt | 31% | 75.30% |
Breckinridge | 29% | 75.50% |
Bullitt | 31% | 73.20% |
Butler | 31% | 81.00% |
Caldwell | 34% | 76.30% |
Calloway | 31% | 65.10% |
Campbell | 45% | 58.30% |
Carlisle | 25% | 81.80% |
Carroll | 33% | 71.40% |
Carter | 28% | 75.70% |
Casey | 22% | 86.20% |
Christian | 20% | 63.20% |
Clark | 38% | 65.20% |
Clay | 27% | 88.00% |
Clinton | 25% | 86.80% |
Crittenden | 25% | 81.40% |
Cumberland | 29% | 83.70% |
Daviess | 36% | 63.00% |
Edmonson | 27% | 78.70% |
Elliott | 23% | 75.00% |
Estill | 32% | 78.00% |
Fayette | 50% | 38.50% |
Fleming | 32% | 78.30% |
Floyd | 35% | 74.90% |
Franklin | 54% | 49.50% |
Fulton | 34% | 66.20% |
Gallatin | 27% | 76.80% |
Garrard | 33% | 77.60% |
Grant | 32% | 78.60% |
Graves | 28% | 77.60% |
Grayson | 32% | 78.90% |
Green | 29% | 83.20% |
Greenup | 29% | 71.90% |
Hancock | 41% | 68.60% |
Hardin | 39% | 61.00% |
Harlan | 29% | 85.40% |
Harrison | 34% | 71.50% |
Hart | 23% | 75.80% |
Henderson | 32% | 61.50% |
Henry | 38% | 72.10% |
Hickman | 24% | 77.90% |
Hopkins | 34% | 73.30% |
Jackson | 22% | 89.20% |
Jefferson | 45% | 39.00% |
Jessamine | 38% | 65.10% |
Johnson | 29% | 82.90% |
Kenton | 43% | 58.60% |
Knott | 32% | 76.50% |
Knox | 24% | 83.00% |
Larue | 30% | 77.90% |
Laurel | 26% | 82.70% |
Lawrence | 28% | 81.00% |
Lee | 32% | 81.10% |
Leslie | 33% | 89.80% |
Letcher | 36% | 79.10% |
Lewis | 22% | 84.80% |
Lincoln | 27% | 77.80% |
Livingston | 33% | 80.20% |
Logan | 34% | 73.40% |
Lyon | 44% | 73.30% |
Madison | 34% | 65.10% |
Magoffin | 31% | 88.00% |
Marion | 35% | 76.00% |
Marshall | 37% | 62.30% |
Martin | 34% | 76.60% |
Mason | 36% | 68.50% |
McCracken | 37% | 75.50% |
McCreary | 28% | 89.00% |
McLean | 34% | 68.80% |
Meade | 27% | 72.20% |
Menifee | 31% | 74.50% |
Mercer | 38% | 72.50% |
Metcalfe | 26% | 79.00% |
Monroe | 32% | 86.80% |
Montgomery | 33% | 70.10% |
Morgan | 34% | 77.60% |
Muhlenberg | 34% | 73.80% |
Nelson | 38% | 67.60% |
Nicholas | 36% | 70.90% |
Ohio | 27% | 77.10% |
Oldham | 42% | 59.70% |
Owen | 26% | 78.70% |
Owsley | 29% | 88.10% |
Pendleton | 31% | 79.60% |
Perry | 40% | 76.50% |
Pike | 35% | 79.90% |
Powell | 35% | 73.40% |
Pulaski | 31% | 80.70% |
Robertson | 28% | 77.10% |
Rockcastle | 25% | 84.50% |
Rowan | 35% | 59.60% |
Russell | 31% | 84.00% |
Scott | 43% | 61.40% |
Shelby | 34% | 63.90% |
Simpson | 33% | 67.40% |
Spencer | 17% | 76.40% |
Taylor | 33% | 74.90% |
Todd | 25% | 75.80% |
Trigg | 31% | 74.40% |
Trimble | 29% | 74.70% |
Union | 25% | 75.50% |
Warren | 31% | 57.40% |
Washington | 35% | 72.00% |
Wayne | 25% | 80.40% |
Webster | 29% | 75.20% |
Whitley | 29% | 81.90% |
Wolfe | 35% | 70.40% |
Woodford | 53% | 55.00% |