Two-thirds of Americans Willing to Ban Unvaxxed Family Members from Holidays...
Published by Andrea Blanco for The Daily Mail:
Nearly two-thirds of vaccinated Americans will likely ban unvaccinated family members from gatherings this upcoming politically-heated holiday season, as an expert warns that too many Americans can't separate politics from their personal lives.
The study by OnePoll, conducted on November 2, surveyed 2,000 Americans in an effort to provide insight into how the COVID-19 vaccine has impacted people's relationships with their loved ones ahead of the holidays this year.
The staggering findings mirror the national divide that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated. Of the 65 percent surveyed individuals who reported being fully vaccinated, 58 percent said they've cut off family members who have refused the jab.
Author and political commentator Andrew Sullivan believes that even those who make it to the dining table on Christmas and Thanksgiving, will have divisive debates about politics in the country.
'There's a lot of what you might call rough and tumble shut-up rhetoric and that's healthy. What is not healthy is when that isn't just retained and kept in the political area but becomes personal, becomes something you bring to the supermarket - you bring to Thanksgiving dinner, becomes something that permeates everything,' Sullivan said during a CBS's 60 Minutes interview set to air on Sunday.
'And that separation between politics and life is what we're losing, and it is a terrible thing to lose,' he added.
Nearly 67 percent of those polled said they felt they couldn't go home for the holidays without being vaccinated first, while 22 percent of unvaccinated respondents have already been excluded from all family gatherings.
Sixty-three of the vaccinated surveyed don't feel comfortable inviting unvaccinated relatives to their parties and almost half of unvaccinated respondents have stopped communicating with family members who don't understand why they refuse the shot.
On the other hand, 14 percent of survey respondents don't plan to ever get the shot but feel as though their reasons for opting out of it have been dismissed and diminished by family members who are vaccinated.
One respondent said they 'don't trust the vaccine is safe,' while others were concerned about side effects and thought the vaccine 'was rushed and people who are getting vaccinated are still getting sick.'
The feeling is not unilateral, vaccinated family members also share their frustration and feel their opinions are disregarded.
Our latest stories...