Morning Distribution for Tuesday, August 17, 2021

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Tuesday, August 17, 2021 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham holds a face mask that reads "Mask Up The Border"]( [Republican Views On Immigration Are Shifting Even Further To The Right Under Biden]( By [Michael Tesler]( In early August, President Biden [took aim at Republican governors]( like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas for not taking enough precautions to counter the [surge in COVID-19 cases]( in their states. But DeSantis was quick to pin the blame on Biden instead, [writing the following in a fundraising email]( to supporters: “Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.” Only what DeSantis is claiming isn’t borne out by data. Rather, according to [public health experts]( the far more likely culprit for the surge in Florida’s cases is [the state’s low vaccination rates](. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Americans Wanted To End The War In Afghanistan. Will That Change?]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.