broadly popular. what do you see this, beyond the science and health, what is the political debate here really about? well, i think the political debate is the one we ve seen, the same one we ve seen in the past. and the republicans have decided to make this a question of big government, big brother, overreach. and some republican governors like kay ivey once stood up and said, as she said also earlier, folks are supposed to have common sense, you need to get vaccinated. and then she said, blame the folks who are unvaccinated. and i think that s the debate we re having now. this is going to continue into the next election, and the republicans are playing to that base. and democrats, in a way, are just saying the president is saying we ve got to push forward because this is going to affect everything. this is going to affect the health of our citizenry and our economy. and so the biden folks know what they re facing.
going. and even though other vaccines or diseases such as measles or mumps have long been mandated throughout the united states, a flurry of republican governors already promising legal fights, calling biden s announcement unlawful, gross government overreach, even though many of the same governors are telling schools and businesses that they cannot impose mask mandates even if they want to. this all comes as a a new cnn poll is still over 50%, though it has dropped by ten percentage points since april. covid deaths are still averaging more than 1,500 a day in the united states, which is a 9% jump from just last week. elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against covid-19. reporter: so said the president, announcing sweeping vaccine mandates with a testing opt-out for millions of american
second lieutenant. she will join us along with her mother who is a brigadier general who witnessed that explosion. they will share their memories 20 years later. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper and we begin today with our health lead and president biden s message to republican governors looking to challenge his new mandate on businesses to either test or vaccinate their employees. biden saying, quote, have it. the president s new policies will affect about two-thirds of the american workforce or roughly 100 million americans, forcing federal employees and federal contractors and healthcare workers, all of them to get vaccinated, even private businesses with more than 100 employees will need to make sure their workers get weekly testing or get the shot. for context, 75% of u.s. adults already have at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine. biden is talking specifically to the roughly 27% of eligible unvaccinated americans who are the ones keeping this pandemic
championships since 1999 when serena williams defeated martina hingas. and be sure to join me tomorrow evening as we revisit the florida classroom where president biden was getting word of the second plane hitting the world trade center. i speak exclusively with the students now in their late 20s. the lead with jake tapper starts right now. earlier today, we almost got a presidential come at me bro. the lead starts right now. president biden standing firm after a slough of republican governors say they re going to challenge in court his new vaccine mandates. one even saying he ll fight president biden to the gates of hell over them. a confession in court from a giuliani goon. what that could mean for the former president s former lawyer. plus, the 9/11 generation. a little girl who was at a daycare inside the pentagon when the plane hit is now a grown up
ahead of the needs of vaccinated people? i think the question here, one that s not the role of the federal government, that is the role that institutions, private-sector entities, and others may take. that certainly is appropriate. so obviously the white house is now singing a different tune. i guess my question for you, dr. schaffner, because you are in the heart of it. you re in tennessee. how do you reach these people? is kay ivey saying it s time to start blaming them? joe biden, president biden expressing exasperation? what s the best way to convince them to get vaccinated? yeah, jake. if we knew that, we would have done it some time ago. but i still think you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. i think local people who are trusted have to reach out to their neighbors and their friends. the business community, the religious community, and of course local politicians also. we need more of that. and, in addition, we re now calling people to serve their