Hardest-hit counties broke big for Trump
U.S. voters went to the polls divided on how they see 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.
An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority — 93 percent of those counties — went for Trump. Most were rural areas in the 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 rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths, they hope to reframe their messages and aim for a reset on public sentiment now that the election is over.
“Public health officials need to step back, listen to and understand the people who aren’t taking the same stance” on maskwearing and other control measures, said Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
“I think there’s the potential for things to get less charged and divisive,” he said, adding that a retooled public health message might unify Americans around lowering case counts so hospitals won’t get swamped during the winter.
The AP’s analysis was limited to counties in which at least 95 percent of precincts had reported results, and it grouped counties into six categories based on the rates of COVID-19 cases they’d experienced per 100,000 residents.
Polling, too, shows voters who split on Republican Trump vs. Democrat Joe Biden differed on whether the pandemic is under control.
Thirty-six percent of Trump voters. described the pandemic as completely or mostly under control, and an additional 47 percent said it was somewhat under control, according to AP Vote Cast, a nationwide survey of more than 110,000 voters conducted for the AP by NORC at the University of Chicago. Meanwhile, 82 percent of Biden voters said the pandemic is not at all under control.
The pandemic was considered at least somewhat under control by slim majorities of voters in many red states, including Texas (55 percent), Alabama ( 60 percent), Mississippi (58 percent), Tennessee (56 percent), South Carolina (56 percent), Kentucky (55 percent) and Missouri (54 percent).
In Wisconsin, where the virus surged just before the election, 57 percent said the pandemic wasn’t under control. In Washington state, where the virus is more in control now, compared with earlier in the year, 55 percent said the same.
Voters in New York and New Hampshire, where the virus is more controlled now after early surges, were roughly divided in their assessments, similar to voters nationwide.
Trump voters interviewed by AP reporters said they value individual freedom and believed the president was doing as well as anyone could in response to the coronavirus.
Michaela Lane, a 25-year-old Republican, dropped her ballot off last week at a polling site at an outdoor mall in Phoenix. She cast her vote for Trump.
“I feel like the most important issue facing the country as a whole is liberty at large,” Lane said. “Infringing on people’s freedom, government overrule, government overreach, chaos in a lot of issues currently going on and just giving people back their rights.”
About half of Trump voters called the economy and jobs the top issue facing the nation, roughly twice the percentage who named the pandemic, according to VoteCast. By contrast, a majority of Biden voters — about 6 in 10 — said the pandemic was themost important issue.
In Madison, Wis., Eric Engstrom, a 31-year-old investment analyst, and hiswife, Gwen, voted absentee by mail early last month. Trump’s failure to control the pandemic sealed his vote for Biden, Engstrom said, calling the coronavirus the most immediate threat the nation faces. He and his wife are expecting their first child, a girl, in January, and they fear “the potential of one of us or bothof us being sick when the baby is born,” he said.
Engstrom called Trump’s response to the virus abysmal.
“If there was any chance that I was going to vote for Trump, it was eliminated because of the pandemic,” he said.
If there’s one unifying force, it might be Dr. Anthony Fauci. According to VoteCast, 73 percent of voters nationwide approve of the way Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been handling the pandemic.
Even among Trump voters, 53 percent approve of Fauci’s performance. About 9 in10 Biden voters approve.