According to reports from several sources — including NPR, The Denver Post and The New York Times — areas where there are more Donald Trump supporters tend to have significantly lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than areas where there was majority support for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The New York Times reported in a story published April 17: “About 31% of adults in the United States have now been fully vaccinated. Scientists have estimated that 70-90% of the total population must acquire resistance to the virus to reach herd immunity. But in hundreds of counties around the country, vaccination rates are low, with some even languishing in the teens.

“The disparity in vaccination rates has so far mainly broken down along political lines. The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.”

Across Racine County’s 18 municipalities, this trend holds to be true — but just barely.

For example, the Town of Dover — where more than 70% of voters cast a ballot for Trump, the highest municipality percentage in the county — has the second-lowest percentage of residents to have received a first COVID-19 vaccine dose (38.65%), according to state data published July 12.

Similarly, the Village of North Bay, which had the second-highest percentage of voters going in favor of Biden (58.18%), has the highest vaccination rate at 86.70%.

The City of Racine, however, is a massive outlier. More than two-thirds of its voters, 67.53%, voted for Biden — the highest percentage in the county — but a mere 38.93% of city residents have been vaccinated, third-worst in the county.

With Mount Pleasant and Caledonia, the county’s second- and third-most populous communities, respectively, the percentages fall back in line with expectations. Mount Pleasant ranks third in both percentage of votes for Biden and in percentage of population vaccinated (54.22% and 55.39% respectively). Caledonia ranks eighth in terms of Biden support (42.06%) and fifth in vaccination rate (54.06%).

The Village of Sturtevant is another outlier. While it ranks sixth in support for Biden (46.18%), it now ranks last in the county in vaccination percentage (36.85%). Yorkville also is an outlier, ranking 12th in Biden support (30.23%) but sixth in vaccination percentage (49.55%).

Most local communities’ percentages of Biden support and vaccination rate are similar. The Village of Elmwood Park ranks fifth in Biden support (46.79%) and second in vaccination rate (56.57%). The Village of Wind Point ranks fourth in both categories with 53.38% of votes going to Biden and 54.37% of residents having received at least one COVID-19 shot.

Waterford’s town and village see a divide. While the Village of Waterford ranks 10th in Biden support (34.18%) and ninth in vaccination rate (46.87%), the Town of Waterford ranks 16th in Biden support (27.76%) and eighth in vaccination rate (47.89%).

• There is a slight correlation between average household income and vaccination rate, where Racine County’s wealthier communities tend to have higher vaccination rates.
• There is a weak, inverse correlation where Racine County’s smallest municipalities have the highest vaccination rates. However, the fact that the tiny villages of North Bay, Elmwood Park and Wind Point rank first, second and fourth in vaccination rate, respectively, does likely have a large effect on this correlation despite those three communities combining to make up just 1.26% of Racine County’s population. Similarly, the three lowest vaccination rates come from Sturtevant, Dover and the City of Racine, which rank sixth, 13th and first, respectively, in population.