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% |
