- Governor Asa Hutchinson said the skepticism of the GOP vaccine is rooted in “a natural resistance to the government”.
- A Yahoo News / YouGov poll revealed that 50% of Trump voters said they would “never” get the vaccine.
- Hutchinson is expected to suspend the mask’s term in Arkansas in late March.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
Republican Party Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said on Sunday that the reluctance of many supporters of former President Donald Trump to receive vaccines from COVID-19 is rooted in “a natural resistance to the government”, a feeling he described as “worrying”.
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”, Hutchinson commented on the conservative nature of his state’s electorate when host Dana Bash informed him of the results of a new Yahoo News / YouGov poll, which revealed that 50% of voters Trump indicated that they would “never” get the vaccine.
“I thought about it a lot and I think it is a natural resistance to the government and skepticism about it,” he said. “But you look at the breadth of support here in Arkansas for President Trump, and you have rural voters, you have minority voters, and your hesitation is worrying, not just here, but across the country.”
He added: “I hope, as a country, we will get the vaccination rate of 50% of the population, but we will have a more difficult time going from 50% to 70%, and it is about overcoming skepticism.”
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Although former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter participated in a recent series of public service announcements promoting the vaccine, Trump declined to participate.
When asked whether Trump should be more vocal about the merits of the vaccine, which former President and First Lady Melania Trump received shortly before leaving the White House in January, Hutchinson said the messages of support from all leaders would be beneficial.
“Well, I’m really happy that he got the vaccine [and] promoted that, “said Hutchinson.” I don’t know the story behind why he wasn’t at PSA with the other presidents. Any message is useful and I think we have to have our leaders, we have to have sports figures, we have to have different representatives from our community, including our political leaders, they say [the] the vaccine is important. “
Although Hutchinson reflected on the severity of the coronavirus, which killed more than 5,500 Arkansans and infected more than 328,000 residents of the state, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, he said that he planned to remove the mandate from the mask at the end of March.
“We’ve been at this for a year and we know a lot more today than we did a year ago,” he said. “We had to educate people to understand the importance of the mask and I hope that, even though we take the mandate out of the mask, people will continue to wear the mask when you can’t distance yourself socially. Common sense will replace mandates and I think that’s Where are we now. “