South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns Split on Support for Vaccination Passports
The South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć COVID-19 Family Impact Survey 2021 was conducted from July 31 to Aug.14, 2021 by The South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć Polling Project, a research group housed in the School of American and Global Studies at South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć State University. This survey builds upon similar surveys conducted by The South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć Polling Project in Oct. 2020 and April 2021. In this poll, a total of 573 registered voters in South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć answered questions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their daily lives. The margin of error of this survey was +/- 4 %, on par with other state-wide polls.
Preferences on Vaccination Passports are Structured Primarily on Partisan Identification
The idea of COVID-19 vaccination passports has been discussed for quite some time - even before any vaccine was authorized or approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Accordingly, President Joe Biden has authorized federal agencies to explore the possibility, though we have not seen any action taken by the federal government just yet. We see rather large differences in support of vaccine passports from state to state. In South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć, Governor Kristi Noem issued an executive order on April 21, 2021 effectively banning vaccination passports in the state, though she has remained steadfast in allowing private businesses to enforce their own mitigation practices. What are the attitudes of South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns towards vaccination passports? We find that 25% of South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns are āvery supportiveā and 14% are āsomewhat supportiveā of vaccination passport. At the same time, 43% are āstrongly opposedā and 6% of South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns are āsomewhat opposed.ā This falls, rather predictably, primarily on partisan lines. Amongst South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć Democrats, 57% are āvery supportiveā and 26% are āsomewhat supportive.ā For Republicans, 65% are āstrongly opposedā and 10% are āsomewhat opposed.ā
The partisan gap is greater than in the previous poll that we conducted in April of this year. In that poll we found that about 71% of self-identified Democrats in South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć were āsomewhatā or āvery supportiveā and that 71% of Republicans are āsomewhatā or āstrongly opposedā to vaccination passports. These results underscore the hardening of political polarization of the COVID-19 pandemic that we discussed in the previous press release. The divide between Democrats and Republicans over vaccination passports follows a new, yet well-established pattern of political polarization on nearly every COVID-19 related policy question in South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć.
Preferences on Vaccination Passports Are Also Shaped by Age
We observe differences in support of vaccination passports between younger and older South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns. Those 65 years and older approve of the measure overall. In our poll, 46% are āvery supportiveā and 13% are āsomewhat supportiveā of vaccination passports. The attitudes of younger South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns appear to be the complete opposite. Among this group, 50% are āstrongly opposedā and 7% are āsomewhat opposedā to vaccination passports. These differences are likely attributed to the much higher risks associated with COVID-19 among the senior citizens. The younger population is less at risk and presumably freer to live consequence free of community transmission. This partly explains lower vaccination rates, as well as their opposition to vaccination passports amongst younger South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns.
Overall, COVID-19 vaccination passports remain a divisive issue in South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć. Findings of our poll uncovered differences between Democrats and Republicans in South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć, as well as between younger and older citizens. This is a pattern we found consistently in all our surveys taken during the pandemic. While our attitudes are shaped primarily by partisan identification, there is a very important age dimension at work as well. Older South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šćns, irrespective of party affiliation, tend to be more cautious in their behaviors and more supportive of nearly all COVID-19 mitigation efforts. We will undoubtedly discuss these age and partisan dimensions more as we unroll more results in the coming weeks.
Contributors: Filip Viskupic Ph.D., David Wiltse Ph.D. and Abdallah Badahdah Ph.D.
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