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- A new poll found that 17% of Americans — including 31% of Republicans — say they're unlikely to ever get the COVID vaccine.
- Roughly 6 in 10 Americans say that health agencies have been inconsistent with their messaging.
- Vaccinated Americans are more afraid of catching COVID than unvaccinated Americans, per the poll.
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31% of self-identified Republicans say they will likely never get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to newly released polling from Monmouth University. A bare majority of Republicans – 51% – have received at least one dose.
In contrast, 92% of self-identified Democrats have gotten at least one shot, and just 2% say they'll never get the shot. Furthermore, 85% of Democrats said they would support reimposing social distancing guidelines in their states.
Altogether, 17% of Americans say they're unlikely to get the shot, while another 11% say they want to "see how it goes" or will get it as soon as possible.
The polling underscores a deep partisan divide in Americans' willingness to get vaccinated and an ongoing challenge for public health officials amid a surge in the Delta variant, a highly contagious version spreading rapidly among the US's vast unvaccinated population.
At the same time, public health officials face credibility issues: 59% of all Americans say that federal health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been giving mixed messages about the risks of the virus.
And just because people are getting vaccinated doesn't mean they're less worried; Monmouth found that 57% of all Americans who have received one dose are worried about catching a new variant of the virus, while just 47% of people who remain on the fence are worried about variants. Unsurprisingly, just 16% of those who are vehemently opposed to getting vaccinated worried about catching a new variant.
52% of the public supported reimposing social distancing measures and 65% of Americans were worried about another surge of the virus if not enough people got vaccinated. The poll surveyed 804 adults in the US from July 21 to 26, before the CDC announced new indoor masking recommendations for fully vaccinated people on July 27; the poll has a 3.5 percentage-point margin of error.
The poll suggests that the public will likely support new precautionary measures as state and local governments across the country reimpose indoor mask mandates and advisories.