NEW POLL CONFIRMS PANDEMIC’S DEVASTATING IMPACT ON NEW JERSEY COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

Despite Greater Financial Impacts, Communities of Color are Less Likely to Agree to Take Vaccine

NEWARK – As New Jersey and the nation battle another wave of COVID-19 and vaccines soon begin to become available, a new poll conducted by Change Research commissioned by Newark-based non-profit Project Ready finds that a large number of New Jerseyans say they will not agree to take an FDA-approved, no-cost coronavirus vaccine, including 60% of Republican and 20% of Democratic voters. The survey finds that communities of color have not only experienced the worst of the pandemic in terms of financial impacts, but are also less likely to agree to take a vaccine, with 37% of white, 39% of Black, and 45% of Hispanic voters saying they would not agree to be vaccinated.

“Despite the devastating and disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on communities of color, they’re also the least likely to say they will agree to be vaccinated,” said Shennell McCloud, Executive Director of Project Ready. “Our leaders must take notice that there aren’t just partisan differences driving these reactions and commit to dedicating the resources to educate our neighbors regarding vaccines.”

A majority of voters give positive ratings for the State’s handling of the pandemic, while at the same time, nearly two-thirds believe the situation is worsening.

Other key findings from the poll of 958 New Jersey voters include:

Financial impact of the virus:

• The
•  coronavirus has deeply impacted voters’ finances, particularly African-American and Hispanic voters.
• A majority (61%) say they have had a lot or some
•  financial impact. This includes 73% of African-Americans, 70% of Hispanics, and 57% of white voters along with similar shares of Democrats (60%), Independents (64%), and Republicans (62%). Younger (18-49 year-old) non-white voters report the highest impact
•  (83%) while older (65+) white voters indicate the lowest financial impact (55% not impacted).

•  
• A
•  majority (54%) of voters report that they or someone in their household has had their working hours reduced.
• This includes 67% of African-Americans
•  and 61% of Hispanics. Democrats (53%), Independents (48%), and Republicans (54%) have been equally impacted.
•  

•  
• Half
•  of African-American voters say that someone in their household has lost a job during the pandemic.
• Overall, a third of voters
•  (32%) live in a household where someone has lost a job, with African-American (50%) and Hispanic (39%) households substantially more impacted than white households (28%). A fifth (21%) have been unable to pay the rent or mortgage (43% of African-American,
•  40% of Hispanic, and 14% of white households) and 5% have been evicted or foreclosed upon (16% African-American, 18% of Hispanic, and 1% of white households).
•  

Health impact of the virus:

• Two-thirds
•  (64%) believe things with coronavirus are getting worse. Large
•  majorities of African-Americans (83%), Hispanics (60%), and white voters (63%) concur with this negative assessment. As a result, more than three-fifths overall believe that the state should either impose more restrictions to contain the virus (42%) or keep
•  the current restrictions in place (20%). Only 38% want the state to reduce restrictions. Democrats and Republicans sharply divide on this. Nearly four-fifths (79%) of Republicans want reduced restrictions compared with 4% of Democrats. A majority (55%) of
•  Independents support the current or expanded restrictions.

• Voters
•  rate the performance of the New Jersey government in handling the coronavirus and keeping people safe positively.
• Overall, 52% say they are doing an excellent
•  or good job compared with 46% who say they are doing a not so good or poor job. Democrats are strongly positive (92% positive, 8% negative) while Republicans are overwhelmingly negative (10% positive, 87% negative). Independents who do not align with a party
•  are more negative than positive (41% positive, 55% negative). Populations that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic give net positive ratings, including senior citizens (51% positive – 48% negative), Hispanic voters (55% positive – 42% negative)
•  and Black voters (81% positive – 17% negative)

Vaccine:

• A
•  majority (60%) say they would agree to be vaccinated if an FDA-approved vaccine against coronavirus was available at no cost – but concerns about vaccines are prevalent.
• Democrats are more likely to take a vaccine (80%)
•  than either Independents (47%) or Republicans (40%). Republicans not willing to take a vaccine are most likely to attribute their concern to not trusting vaccines generally (34%), followed by wanting to confirm the vaccine is safe (24%), being concerned about
•  a rushed timeline (11%), and wanting to wait to see how effective it is (6%). Independents are more concerned about safety (31%) than any other reason. Democrats are most concerned about safety (34%) and a rushed timeline (27%) Hispanic (45%) voters are slightly
•  more likely to say they would not agree to be vaccinated than white (37%) or African-American voters (39%).

• • Although
  •  Democrats are much more likely to agree to be vaccinated, a strong racial and ethnic gap exists.

•  Non-white Democrats (36%) are more than 3 times as likely as white Democrats (11%) to say they would not agree to be vaccinated. Among white voters, those aged 65 and up are the most likely to agree to be vaccinated (74% to 26%), while those who are 35 to
•  49 years old are the least likely (49% to 51%).

Click here to view the survey memo, methodology and crosstabs.