Morbid Polarization: Exposure to COVID-19 and Partisan Disagreement about Pandemic Response.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of all Americans, but the severity of the pandemic has been experienced unevenly across space and time. Some states saw sharp rises in COVID-19 cases in early March, whereas case counts rose much later in the rest of the country. In this article, we examine the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and citizens' views on what type of measures are required to deal with the crises and how experience with and exposure to COVID-19 is associated with greater partisan polarization. We find consistent evidence of partisan divergence in pandemic-response policy preferences across the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Republicans support national control measures whereas Democrats support welfare policies, and interparty differences grow ove

SUBMITTER: Rodriguez CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9115507 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature