Poll Shows Deep Partisan Divide over Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

Opinions on vaccine mandates largely shift based on political party, as Democrats overwhelmingly support the concept and Republicans oppose, a Thursday poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.

Overall, the survey showed 51 percent of Americans support President Biden’s proposal, which requires companies with over 100 employees to either mandate the coronavirus vaccine or implement rigorous weekly testing. Of those, 35 percent “strongly” approve. Just over one-third, 34 percent, disapprove, and of those, 23 percent “strongly” disapprove. Fourteen percent, overall, expressed no opinion on the matter.

However, the results drastically shift based on party lines. Over three-quarters of Democrats, 77 percent, approve of Biden’s vaccine mandates, compared to 37 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans. Meanwhile, 62 percent of Republicans disapprove, as do 35 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats.

While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is still working out the details of the coming mandate, Democrats slipped in fines of up to $700,000 for companies failing to adhere to Biden’s coronavirus rules in their controversial $3.5 trillion 2,465-page spending bill.

As Breitbart News reported:

The far-left’s $3.5 trillion spending bill includes severe penalties that can be levied against companies that fail to comply with the Biden administration’s coronavirus rules outlined by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which crafted an emergency coronavirus rule over the summer. It was published in the Federal Register, essentially deeming the Chinese coronavirus a “workplace hazard.”

 …

Page 168 of the Democrats’ massive spending package outlines fines as high as $70,000 for “serious infractions” of the rules, but it can go up to $700,000 for “willful or repeated violations.”

“If enacted into law, vax enforcement could bankrupt non-compliant companies even more quickly than the $14,000 OSHA fine anticipated under Biden’s announced mandate,” Forbes observed.

According to the survey, Democrats are also far more likely to approve of Biden’s handling of the Chinese coronavirus, as 86 percent approve, compared to 50 percent of independents and 23 percent of Republicans who hold the same sentiments. That majority of Republicans, 77 percent, disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, 57 percent approve. However, that reflects a nine-point drop from the 66 percent who approved in July.

The survey, taken September 23-27, 2021, among 1,099 adults, has a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percent.