Americans' political beliefs may affect how they respond to the spread of covid-19
POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP has penetrated nearly every facet of American life. Today it influences not only Americans’ decisions at the ballot box, but also their views on race, immigration, the environment and helping the poor. Even scientific beliefs now fall along partisan lines. As Americans face the threat of a pandemic of covid-19, will their political beliefs affect how they respond?suggests that party loyalties do matter.
Democrats are taking more preventative measures, too. Some 23% of Democrats have cancelled travel plans, compared with just 14% of Republicans. The share of survey respondents who said they had worked from home was 19% and 9% for Democrats and Republicans, respectively. Moreover, 9% of Democrats have donned a medical face mask in public; only 5% of Republicans have done the same.
Opinions about how the government should respond to the crisis are even more sharply divided. About half of Democrats said people should be required to work from home; roughly a third said large public gatherings and long-distance travel should be cancelled; and one in five said schools and universities should be temporarily closed. Republicans were less supportive of every one of these measures.
Why are liberals so fearful of covid-19, and conservatives so blasé? Past studies have found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to trust scientists, who have sounded various alarms over the coronavirus. Meanwhile President Donald Trump and Fox News, the most polarising sources of information on the right, have characterised the virus as no more serious than the common flu.
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