Olson: Free Speech, Vaccine Mandates & California Gerrymandering
Byline: Olson Strategies Staff
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Dustin Olson, lead pollster for American Pulse Research & Polling and Managing Partner at Olson Strategies, joined Newswire on Newsmax to discuss free speech, vaccine mandates, and the DNC's new push to help Newsom’s Gerrymandering Initiative to redo California’s redistricting to pad the number of Democrat seats in the state.
Free Speech Double Standards
Olson pointed to what he called a glaring hypocrisy in recent free speech debates. He noted that many of the same voices decrying Jimmy Kimmel’s ouster from ABC were not nearly as outraged when Charlie Kirk was literally fired upon to stop him from exercising his free speech.
“You look at the last 10 days and the juxtaposition of these two different situations, and you would hope that these Democrats would have been a little bit more appalled about the threat to free speech last week when a shooter literally shot someone in the throat to stop him from speaking.”
Olson added that Democrats often accuse opponents of the very tactics they use themselves: “The left attacks you for what they’ve been doing to you, what they’re currently doing to you, or what they’re fixing to do to you soon.”
Vaccine Mandates vs. Parental Choice
The conversation turned to vaccine mandates as several red states move toward ending school vaccine requirements. Olson noted surveys show broad support for vaccines among Americans, but emphasized that mandates are a different issue.
“People, generally, majorities support vaccines. But there's a difference between vaccines and vaccine mandates, as well as the vaccine schedule, which has a lot of shots on it. I have a young daughter... it has gotten to a point that it's pretty absurd.”
He said giving parents a choice doesn’t mean opposition to science—only opposition to one-size-fits-all policies: “Most parents, given the option to not be forced to do all of these, are going to have more of an à la carte approach... they may pick some and decide not to do others.”
Gerrymandering Push: Redoing California Redistricting
Finally, Olson reacted to the Democratic National Committee joining California Governor Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandering push to help boost Democrats ahead of the next election. He said the move signals concern inside the party given the weak polling environment nationally when the party out of the White House would normally be doing much better..
“This is an interesting election cycle. The average of the generic congressional ballot right now is historically low for a midterm election for the party out of power. In 2018 Democrats were ahead at this point by about eight points. Right now, it’s between one and three.”
Even in California, Olson noted, support for the new maps is underwhelming: “Emerson's polling only has it at 51% support in blue California. Usually, you need to have above 60% to get this done... which is why they need the DNC to get Democrats out to the polls. Otherwise, there’s no hope for them to win this.”
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