My father, of blessed memory, a stalwart civil libertarian who cut his teeth as a lawyer defending people accused of being communists by McCarthyite goons, used to say, “Your rights end where my nose begins.” The aphorism seems particularly apt at a time when one of the greatest collective threats […] Read more »
Elite party cues increase vaccination intentions among Republicans
Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires motivating the vast majority of Americans to get vaccinated. However, vaccination rates have become politically polarized, and a substantial proportion of Republicans have remained vaccine hesitant for months. Here, we explore how endorsements by party elites affect Republicans’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions and attitudes. In a […] Read more »
Republican Governors’ Conundrum
Most of the states with low vaccination rates have Republican Governors. That is because they have majority Republican constituencies who don’t like government telling them what to do. There are a lot of reasons people are not getting vaccinated. There are still some access issues and not everyone knows the […] Read more »
What changes the unvaccinated minds? Fear.
The Covid-19 vaccines work to greatly lessen the chance of a person getting a symptomatic case, getting hospitalized or dying. Yet nearly a third of eligible Americans haven’t gotten a single dose and more than 40% have not been fully vaccinated. So what does work to get more people to […] Read more »
Delta Uncertainty Rattles Confidence in the Economy
… Despite a strong July jobs report, we’re seeing a lot of uncertainty around the economy, particularly over the past three weeks. Inflation, new indoor mask mandates, a changing labor market, rising COVID cases, and the Delta variant all equate to a volatile mix. What do we call this? Virus-based […] Read more »
Does Biden Understand Contemporary Politics?
With rare exceptions, Joe Biden throughout his presidency has stressed his determination to cooperate with the GOP whenever possible and has minimized his personal confrontations with Republican leaders on both the national and state levels. That strategy has yielded the tangible benefit of the big bipartisan infrastructure bill now marching […] Read more »