Many times over the last two and a half years, we cats have speculated that Republican voters were committing suicide at a rate that would drive down their turnout at the polls. Generally, if you're a Trumpster who refused to get vaccinated or wear a mask, and you're dead from COVID, you can't vote. But our assumptions were all pretty anecdotal, based on what we were hearing about pandemic politics.
Now, three researchers from Yale have published a paper proving it.
"Political affiliation has emerged as a potential risk factor for COVID-19, amid evidence that Republican-leaning counties [in Florida and Ohio] have had higher COVID deaths than Democratic-leaning counties and evidence of a link between political party affiliation and vaccination views," they say.
The difference between this and various and sundry anecdotal observations? The Yale abstract is a peer-reviewed study. It's not some cable-news talking head speculating — these dudes are experts proving what we all suspected we knew.
Will it make a difference in November? It's unclear, but it can't hurt. And it might be just another reason that the 2022 midterms may not follow historical trends (i.e., in which the incumbent President's party gets its ass kicked). We cats PURR.
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