Democrats Are More Enthusiastic About COVID Vaccine Since Biden Won

Democrats are a lot more eager to get the anti-coronavirus vaccine now that it appears Joe Biden will be administering the shot.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 45% of American Adults who identify as Democrats say they are more likely to get the vaccine than they were a month ago. This compares to 35% of Republicans and 24% of those not affiliated with either major party. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Among all adults, 34% are more likely to be vaccinated, while 15% are less likely to do so. Forty percent (40%) rate the likelihood as about the same. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Americans now say they are likely to get the vaccine, with 42% who say it’s Very Likely. This compares to 70% and 53% respectively in late April when Rasmussen Reports first asked this question.

National Democrats were increasingly critical of the vaccine during the campaign season, prompting Vice President Mike Pence to caution Kamala Harris during their debate about endangering public safety. But now that Biden appears to be the next president, he and other Democrats are embracing the pending vaccine.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted November 17-18, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of Americans say they or someone in their family has tested positive for the coronavirus, up from 10% at the end of July.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of Democrats are likely to be vaccinated now, compared to 63% of Republicans and 58% of unaffiliateds.

In a survey of likely voters just before Election Day, however, only 61% of Democrats planned to get the vaccine, along with 64% of Republicans and 63% of unaffiliated voters.

The older the American, the more likely they are to say they will get the vaccine. Men are more likely than women to be vaccinated.

Whites are more likely to get the vaccine than blacks and other minority Americans.

Views of the coronavirus crisis and how America has responded have broken down along party lines from the start.

Sixty percent (60%) of voters, a new high, think China should pay at least some of the global financial costs that have originated from the virus that originated in a Chinese city.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it's free) or follow us on Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.