A new Axios-Ipsos poll finds that a plurality of Republicans regard fentanyl and opioids as the biggest threat to public health, while Democrats are most likely to say guns. Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei tweeted that it was “wild” that conservatives were under this impression. After some blowback, VandeHei clarified the tweet, and claimed what he meant was that the political divide was “wild.” It is, but not for the reasons he thinks.
According to the CDC, an estimated 106,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2022. And likely around 67 percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl — which, if I punched in the number correctly, adds up to around 71,000 deaths.
In 2022, around 44,000 Americans died from gun-related deaths. According to the CDC, over half of gun deaths are attributable to suicide, which points to a need for better mental health and community involvement than any useless gun legislation. Around 20,000 people died from guns not used in suicides. This includes hundreds of accidents (which is another reason pollsters like to ask about “gun access”).
So, in other words, around five times as many people have died in drug overdoses in recent years than were killed by gun crime. And even if we counted all 44,000 gun-related deaths as having the same root cause, more than twice as many people died from drug overdoses. It’s wild that so many liberals aren’t aware of this reality.
And the idea that this is a Red State-Blue State
