Washington’s vaccine mandate for private business lasted exactly one month before Mayor Muriel Bowser read the tea leaves — that is to say, the polling, not The Science. That caused her to end it literally overnight.
Although the Washington Post found that 3 out of 4 district residents supported the mandate, Bowser’s key Democratic constituencies proved the most opposed.
The more “privileged” the demographic, the higher the support for masking, according to the polling. Whereas 85% of white college graduates supported the mandate, barely 3 in 5 black noncollege graduates did. Just 2 out of 3 parents with children in public or public charter schools supported the mandate, compared to nearly 4 in 5 of those without them. Nearly 2 in 5 residents of Wards 7 and 8, both the poorest in the district and each with a 90% black population, opposed the mandate, compared to just 1 out of 5 residents of the rest of Washington.
The group most supportive of Bowser’s coronavirus regulations? White women, overwhelmingly. Just 11% of them thought the mayor had imposed too many rules. In fact, unlike the question specifically of the vaccine mandate, which was divided by race, gender was actually the most significant factor in whether residents believed Bowser to be too stringent in her pandemic response. While 22% and 16% of white and nonwhite men, respectively, thought Bowser imposed too many restrictions, 11% of white women and 12% of nonwhite women did.
The capital is one of the bluest cities in the entire nation. President Joe Biden won 92% of the district’s vote in 2020, and four years prior, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and write-in candidates earned more votes than former President Donald Trump. This is about the most favorable test ground Democrats could have found to test a most extreme policy. It didn’t do as well as it should have.
Democrats require 9 out of 10 black voters and a strong majority of Latinos to offset Republican gains with the working class and men. Yet the most black and blue wards in one of the most black and blue cities in the country posted just 61% support for a vaccine mandate.
If Democrats really wanted to run on forever COVIDiocy, just imagine how that 30-percentage-point drop in support in Wards 7 and 8 from Biden to the vaccine mandate translates into national elections. Republicans could secure veto-proof majorities and transform the country for generations.
Also, note just how stark the divide between parents of schoolchildren versus the childless was. From San Francisco to Chicago, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Even if teachers unions manage to pivot away from their pandemic panic, parents are set to punish the systemic oppression of children come November.
Bowser, who is up for reelection this year, earned 74% support for a vaccine mandate she staked her entire career on. That doesn’t sound so bad, but it’s coming from an over-90% Democratic district. And the bulk of her base is now rich, childless white women children. Good luck with that.
