GOP voters had higher excess deaths rates after COVID vaccine rollout

The death gap between Democrats and Republicans was larger in counties with lower vaccination rates.

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[FireWraith]

It may be worse than this. In southeast Ohio and Appalachia in general, there are lots of registered Democrats who haven't voted for a Democrat in decades (to give you a hint why, they haven't voted for a Democrat since 1968 specifically). Similarly in Florida, older voters may retain party affiliation from decades gone by. You register your political party once, and it stays the same unless you specifically go through the effort of changing it.

If you've ever wondered in polls who those x% of Democrats are who think Trump is the bee's knees, it's not all people messing with pollsters. Some of it is Dixiecrats who refuse to associate with the same party that ended slavery.

So if you use registration data, you'll get some Republicans mixed with your Democrats. Not so much the other way around.

Keep in mind too that many places (though not necessarily those two states, I don't know offhand for them) that primaries are closed, meaning only registered members of that party can vote. And when the area is red or blue enough that the primary controls who the winner is, people sometimes register as that party just to have a say in those primaries.