I'm not sure how, or why, political affiliation would have anything to do with it.
There's a myriad of reasons I've seen on this site why people are returning them. Some are being offered more money than they originally paid for the vehicle, and feel like they'd be stupid NOT to accept a deal that has essentially allowed them to own a car for free over the course of a couple of years. Some don't want to deal with an expensive repair, think HPFP, turbo, DPF, or even ad blue components that have been suspect in their reliability for some people.
Personally, I feel as if it's a mixed bag for me, a little bit of everything that makes it a win for me to do a buyback. I got a great 70,000 miles out of my Passat in 29 months. She's been mostly reliable, heater core failed and O2 sensor failed, but other than it's been a great car. I just no longer require the stellar fuel economy because I moved and my commute is now just 19 miles a day round trip.
I originally opted for the fix, assuming there would be a solid indication as to what the fix would entail by now. But it's been complete silence. That, coupled with living in California, which would undoubtedly make a fix compulsory, I'm not entirely comfortable with that being up in the air still. The long term effects, the degradation in performance, reliability are all things that I want to know, and I would expect anyone would prior to electing for the fix. Given that, and the fact that VW is willing to give me a stupid amount of money that I'd never get otherwise, it made the switch to buyback all the more logical.
But, that's just how this urban liberal sees it