Hey! Remember how I said, the other day, that Texas doesn’t actually care about protecting life, because it treats even biological accidents such as miscarriage like a crime? Well, get a load of the governor’s latest anti-life gambit:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Monday to prohibit any entity — including private businesses — from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers, and he called on state lawmakers to pass a similar ban into law.
The move comes as the Biden administration is set to issue rules requiring employers with more than 100 workers ensure their employees are either vaccinated or tested weekly for the coronavirus. Several major companies, including Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, have said they would abide by the federal mandate.
“No entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19,” Abbott wrote in his order.
Abbott, who was previously vaccinated and also later tested positive for COVID-19, noted in his order that “vaccines are strongly encouraged for those eligible to receive one, but must always be voluntary for Texans.”
Funny how “voluntary” must always apply to vaccines, and never to pregnancy.
So, how is all that “voluntary” vaccinatin’ workin’ out for ya, Texas? Ope:
And oof:
And YIKES:
Today, in Texas, the total COVID case count is 4.14 million, and the death count is 68,057 people. For comparison, the total COVID case count of Canada is 1.67 million, and the death count is 28,254.
That’s right, Texas has had more than three times as many COVID cases — and deaths — as all of Canada.
Meanwhile, here are the vaccination rates for Texas:
So far, little more than half of the vaccine-eligible population of the state is fully vaccinated. And the disease and death toll is still climbing, and the curve is far from flat.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for “voluntary” vaccination, is it?
So. How is all this redounding for Governor Voluntary Vax? Well…
A recent poll shows half of Texans disapprove of how Gov. Greg Abbott is performing in his job right now, with a majority believing the state is “going in the wrong direction.”
The August 2021 poll, conducted by the Texas Politics Project, shows 50% of surveyed voters disapprove of Abbott’s actions and 41% approve. That’s the lowest job approval rating during his time in office, the Texas Politics Project reports.
Additionally, the Texas Politics Project says its poll showed 52% of Texans believe the state is going in the wrong direction, which is the highest percentage recorded in that category since the polling project began in 2008.
The polling project also surveyed voters on how the state government is faring with the COVID-19 pandemic. Results found 49% of surveyed voters disapprove of Texas’ response to the pandemic, 39% approved and the rest were either neutral or didn’t know or have an opinion. The poll showed 53% specifically disapprove of how Abbott is handling the pandemic.
Mask mandates in particular are a point of contention in the pandemic currently, with Abbott’s executive order barring local officials and public schools from requiring face masks on campuses. Several school districts in Texas, including in Travis County, have decided to ignore the governor’s order, making masks mandatory for students and staff. These actions have placed some public schools in legal battles against the state.
The polling project says its recent poll shows 56% of surveyed Texans support requiring public school students and staff to wear masks on campus.
No word in there on vaccines, but I’d imagine similar trends at work. Most people who mask up, also get the shot…and they’re peeved at others who don’t take that belt-and-suspenders approach. OR require it of everyone.
But don’t take MY (fully vaccinated, pro-mask, never-infected) word for it. Here, have some more crunchy numbers:
More Texas voters believe Gov. Greg Abbott (R) does not deserve to be reelected, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
The survey conducted by Quinnipiac University found that 51 percent of registered voters in Texas believe Abbott does not deserve to be reelected, compared with 42 percent who said the governor deserves a third term.
The opposition to Abbott’s reelection was up from June, when a separate Quinnipiac poll found that 46 percent of Texas voters supported Abbott’s 2022 reelection bid, compared with 48 percent who did not.
The most recent poll also found that only 44 percent of Texans approve of the way Abbott is handling his job as governor, compared with 47 percent who disapprove of the work he has done.
Those numbers, according to Quinnipiac, mark the first time since the firm started polling on the Lone Star State that Abbott’s approval rating has sunk below his disapproval rating, referred to as being “underwater.”
Interestingly, those disapproval ratings coincide rather nicely with the pro-vax and pro-mask numbers. Could be a coincidence, but it’s just a little too coincidental. Especially considering those high COVID numbers.
Moral of the story? Don’t pander to COVIDiots. Even if you yourself don’t die in the process, others will…and your political career is going to nosedive into that dry Texas dust, as well.
PS: My best friend adds the following: “Another important detail you might want to add in the section that compares total cases and total deaths in Canada and Texas — Canada’s population is about 38 million. Texas’ population is about 29 million. So we have millions more people in Canada, yet we have far fewer cases and deaths than Texas.”
