Poll shows growing worries about delta variant

Americans are growing increasingly concerned about the delta variant of the coronavirus and are split along party lines on President Biden’s handling of the new strain, according to a new poll. 

A CBS-YouGov survey published over the weekend found that 62 percent of Americans said they are concerned about the delta variant, now the dominant strain in the United States, including 48 percent of people who indicated they are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated.  

Seventy-two percent of vaccinated Americans said they are concerned about the delta variant. Of the respondents who said they are not vaccinated, 53 percent listed “worried about side effects” as their reason for declining to get the shot. 

Federal health officials have said repeatedly that all three vaccines being used in the United States are safe and effective in fighting off the coronavirus and the delta variant. 

Biden has pledged to work harder through the summer to fight misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines and get more shots in arms nationwide. 

On Sunday, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the U.S. is seeing a “proliferation of misinformation online” that is leading to a drop-off in national vaccination rates since the spring.  

“We are still seeing a proliferation of misinformation online, and we know that health misinformation harms people’s health. It costs them their lives,” he said. 

Along partisan lines, 57 percent of Republicans in the CBS-YouGov poll said Biden is focusing too much on getting people vaccinated. Only 35 percent of Democrats said the same. 

Eighty-four percent of Democrats said they are or plan to be fully vaccinated, as opposed to 62 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of independents. 

Nearly 30 percent of Republicans polled said they will not be vaccinated. 

The survey was conducted by YouGov among 2,238 U.S. adults between July 14 and July 17. It has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.