National

Data: Instacart; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

Sales of matzo wildly peaked last year — unsurprisingly — at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover, according to data from Instacart.

Zoom in: Observers eat matzo, an unleavened bread, to mark the exodus of ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.

There are noticeable bumps later in the year during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and Chanukah.

Charted: Peak matzo on Passover

Judaism

Economy & Business

Data: Martin-Quinn scores; Chart: Axios Visuals

The Supreme Court will continue to have a solid conservative majority even with Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement. 

How to read the chart: An analysis by political scientists Andrew Martin and Kevin Quinn, known as the Martin-Quinn Score, places judges on an ideological spectrum. A lower score indicates a more liberal justice, whereas a higher score indicates a more conservative justice.

Breyer had the second-most liberal score (-1.901), with Justice Sonia Sotomayor being the most liberal (-3.959), per a measure that score judges on a liberal-conservative spectrum.

Most conservative: Clarence Thomas (3.03)

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling overturning Roe on June 24.

Alito wrote the court's opinion. Joining him were Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett.

Roberts voted with the majority but indicated he would've stopped short of fully overturning Roe.

The court's three liberal members — Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan — dissented.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include Amy Coney Barrett, using a new analysis and scoring system, and information on how the justices voted on Roe v. Wade.

The political leanings of the Supreme Court justices

The most conservative: Clarence Thomas. The most liberal: Sonia Sotomayor.

Politics

Supreme Court

Axios Explains: Abortion

Chart showing ideological standings of Supreme Court justices

The Supreme Court will continue to have a solid conservative majority even with Justice <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Stephen Breyer&#x27;s retirement" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/supreme-court-breyer-retiring-biden-justice-128d68d9-fde1-4693-8cfc-3634a944c363.html" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/supreme-court-breyer-retiring-biden-justice-128d68d9-fde1-4693-8cfc-3634a944c363.html" target="_self">Stephen Breyer&#x27;s retirement</a>. How to read the chart: An <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="analysis" data-vars-click-url="https://mqscores.lsa.umich.edu/measures.php" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://mqscores.lsa.umich.edu/measures.php" target="_blank">analysis</a> by political scientists Andrew Martin and Kevin Quinn, known as the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Martin-Quinn Score" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/10/20/supreme-court-justice-ideology-2022" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/10/20/supreme-court-justice-ideology-2022" target="_self">Martin-Quinn Score</a>, places judges on an ideological spectrum. A lower score indicates a more liberal justice, whereas a higher score indicates a more conservative justice.

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

Data: CDC; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios 

While the seasonal flu can be life-threatening, it paled in comparison to the overall numbers of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. over the last two years.

Yes, but: Experts warn about the dual threat from COVID surges and influenza, and say the flu season could be tough because this year's flu shot appears to be poorly matched to the flu strains circulating this season.

"From our lab-based studies it looks like a major mismatch," Scott Hensley, a University of Pennsylvania microbiology professor and lead author of the study, told CNN.

How COVID deaths compare to seasonal flu

Experts have warned about the dual threat from COVID surges and influenza.

Coronavirus

While the seasonal flu can be life-threatening, it paled in comparison to the overall numbers of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. over the last two years.Yes, but: Experts warn <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="about the dual threat" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/covid-flu-pandemic-vaccines-shots-immunity-f53b97e4-4195-447f-94f9-d1f8e4583224.html" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/covid-flu-pandemic-vaccines-shots-immunity-f53b97e4-4195-447f-94f9-d1f8e4583224.html" target="_self">about the dual threat</a> from COVID surges and influenza, and say the flu season could be tough because this year&#x27;s flu shot appears to be poorly matched to the flu strains circulating this season.

Data: Axios/Ipsos polling; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

The key factor determining how Americans have handled COVID-19 — more than race, education or even political affiliation — is where they get their news, according to an analysis of two years of data from our Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Why it matters: Partisan divisions weaken U.S. leaders' ability to deal with such existential crises — and the modern media landscape feeds that cycle.

By the numbers: In March 2020, when everything changed, roughly nine in 10 Americans, regardless of their preferred media outlet, said they trusted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Within weeks, though, that trust was plunging among Americans who mostly watch Fox News or other conservative outlets, as well as those who cited no source.

 By the end of last month, just 16% of those who said they get most of their news from Fox or other conservative outlets still said they trust the CDC,  compared to 77% of those who favor network news and major national newspapers and 87% of those who primarily watch CNN or MSNBC.

People who primarily got their news from Fox or other conservative media outlets were also more likely to be unvaccinated, and to report that they had tested positive for COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic.

By the end of last month, 77% of respondents overall said they’d been at least partially vaccinated. For Republicans and for watchers of Fox and other conservative media, it was about 10 percentage points lower.

The highest vaccination rates among respondents were Democrats (87%) and those whose primary news sources were network TV or major national newspapers (86%). The lowest vaccination rate (57%) was among those saying they had no primary source for news. 

Between the lines: Americans' perceived risk from COVID peaked during the spike in cases in November and December of 2020, when 71% of respondents said returning to normal pre-COVID routines was a large or moderate risk.

The lowest perceived risk was June 2021, after vaccines became widely available but before the Delta wave, when 29% perceived a large or moderate risk. We are now somewhere in between, with roughly half (48%) of Americans perceiving their old routines to be risky.

The big picture: America changed because of the pandemic, and the way we view health, education and the workplace may be permanently altered.

A significant segment of society is still masking outside the home with all indications they'll keep doing so on airplanes, in crowds and if they feel ill, even after mandates are gone.

The crisis sped a technological revolution around work. Expectations about remote and hybrid work may be forever changed.

The pandemic — and public health officials' and employers’ push for vaccinations — also challenged people's perceptions about the freedom to make choices about their own bodies. And it underscored the differences between individual states and between urban, suburban and rural attitudes.

What they're saying: "This is the biggest forced behavior change we've seen in American history since World War II," said Ipsos pollster and senior vice president Chris Jackson. 

"But there's also ways that preexisting American society imposed its structure on the issue," he said. "America was a very divided, partisan country before COVID came along and that structure really imposed itself on how we responded.

"It does illustrate the power of elite messengers to shape public opinion," from former President Trump and President Biden to dominant media personalities, Jackson said. "That shaped how America viewed the pandemic." 

"America changed and is still changed," said Cliff Young, president of Ipsos U.S. Public Affairs. "We will always be marked by this." 

"We are super-divided, hyper-partisan. We live in these split realities and that's a fact of life and it will be a fact of life looking into the medium or long term, whether it's a pandemic or some other crisis," Young said.

"The counterpoint is Ukraine right now. We still have partisan differences but a tendency for convergence.

"Maybe it's the type of existential threat that cuts to people's views of individual freedom — a fundamental value of 'don't tell me what to do.'"

Methodology: The data is drawn from 63 waves of Axios/Ipsos polling conducted since March 13, 2020 by Ipsos' KnowledgePanel®. Each poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of roughly 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 or older.

The margin of sampling error is ±3.0-3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults.

Axios-Ipsos poll: Media habits defined the COVID culture war

Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index

The key factor determining how Americans have handled COVID-19 — more than race, education or even political affiliation — is where they get their news, according to an analysis of two years of data from our <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index" data-vars-click-url="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/two-years-of-COVID" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/two-years-of-COVID" target="_blank">Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index</a>.Why it matters: Partisan divisions weaken U.S. leaders&#x27; ability to deal with such existential crises — and the modern media landscape feeds that cycle.

Vitals

Axios Vitals

Death rates increased for each age group 15 years and older in 2020, according to the CDC's final 2020 death data released Wednesday.

Why it matters: The data reflects the impact of COVID-related illness last year, as well as increases in such other causes of death as unintentional injuries.

By the numbers: Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2020 was 77 years, a decrease of 1.8 years from 2019.

 "In 2020, a total of 3,383,729 resident deaths were registered in the United States — 528,891 more deaths than in 2019," the CDC said. 

COVID-19 was responsible for the deaths of 350,831 people, approximately 10.4% of the total number of deaths last year

Between the lines: The drop was 0.3 years more than previous CDC estimates, which indicated that life expectancy had dropped by a year and a half last year. The decrease is still the biggest since World War II.

Death rates for adults shot up in 2020

Life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2020 was 77 years, a decrease of 1.8 years from 2019.

Deaths

Picture of two people surrounded by hundreds of thousands of little white flags

Death rates increased for each age group 15 years and older in 2020, according to the CDC&#x27;s final 2020 death data <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="released Wednesday" data-vars-click-url="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.htm" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.htm" target="_blank">released Wednesday</a>.Why it matters: The data reflects the impact of COVID-related illness last year, as well as increases in such other causes of death as unintentional injuries.

Danielle Alberti

Stories

Charted: Peak matzo on Passover

The political leanings of the Supreme Court justices

Axios-Ipsos poll: Media habits defined the COVID culture war

Death rates for adults shot up in 2020

How COVID deaths compare to seasonal flu