Dutiful Citizens: Predictors of COVID-19 Policy Complaint Behavior in India

Abstract

Political ideology reflects the way people conduct themselves in the social world, affecting their decisions and actions, including those pertaining to health care. The current study aimed to understand whether district-level partisanship affects mobility during COVID-19 in India, a pluralistic and multi-party country. The study used secondary data from the 2019 Indian general elections and the COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports (2020, 2021) by Google. Results indicate that during the first COVID-19 wave in India (May-October, 2020), there was a greater change in the amount of time spent at the places of residence in districts based on the partisanship of its representative. Further, during the peak of the second wave (April-June, 2021), partisanship predicted a higher change in mobility to groceries and pharmacies. Gender of the district-level representative also played a role in the relationship between partisanship and mobility during the pandemic.