Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic

Allcott, Hunt; Boxell, Levi; Conway, Jacob; Gentzkow, Matthew; Thaler, Michael; Yang, David Y.

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104254

Cited by 821 publications

(840 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

700

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, the rise of anti-vaccination misinformation (e.g. misleading healthcare information, conspiracy theories) may also have played a role in explaining this increase [11][12][13][14]26 . It will therefore be critical that accurate safety information is widely and transparently communicated by trusted sources to promote confidence in the scientific decision-making underpinning the approval of COVID-19 vaccines 16,21 .…”

Section: Pg 12mentioning

confidence: 99%

Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the US: Longitudinal evidence from a nationally representative sample of adults from April–October 2020

Daly

Robinson

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionVaccines against COVID-19 have been developed in unprecedented time. However, the effectiveness of any vaccine is dictated by the proportion of the population willing to be vaccinated. In this observational population-based study we examined intentions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.MethodsWe analyzed longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 7,547 US adults enrolled in the Understanding America Study (UAS). Participants reporting being willing, undecided and unwilling to get vaccinated against coronavirus across 13 assessments conducted from April-October, 2020. Public attitudes to vaccination against the coronavirus were also assessed.ResultsWillingness to vaccinate declined from 71% in April to 53.6% in October. This was explained by an increase in the percentage of participants undecided about vaccinating (from 10.5% to 14.4%) and the portion of the sample unwilling to vaccinate (from 18.5% to 32%). The population subgroups most likely to be undecided/unwilling to vaccinate were those without a degree (undecided: RRR=2.47, 95% CI: 2.04-3.00; unwilling: RRR=1.92, 95% CI: 1.67-2.20), Black participants (undecided: RRR=2.18, 95% CI: 1.73-2.74; unwilling: RRR=1.98, 95% CI: 1.63-2.42), and females (undecided: RRR=1.41, 95% CI: 1.20-1.65; unwilling: RRR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.14-1.46). Those aged 65+, those on high incomes, and other race/ethnicity participants were least likely to be undecided or unwilling to vaccinate. Concerns about potential side effects of a vaccine were common.ConclusionsIntentions to be vaccinated against coronavirus have declined rapidly during the pandemic and close to half of Americans are undecided or unwilling to be vaccinated.

show abstract

Section: Pg 12mentioning

confidence: 99%

Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the US: Longitudinal evidence from a nationally representative sample of adults from April–October 2020

Daly

Robinson

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As the pandemic varied markedly in its course across geographic regions, those who reside in states where the COVID-19 outbreak is more widespread and where there are more cases, may be more likely to take actions to maintain their health. Those who trust the current government and media that portrays the COVID-19 crisis with skepticism and downplays the danger of the virus are less likely to take preventive behaviors and more likely to take risky behaviors compared to those who trust media sources that portray the pandemic as risky and endorse public health recommendations [20][21][22][23][24]. Those who perceive a higher personal probability of getting the infection and dying are more likely to respond to behavioral modifications than those whose assessment of their risk for infection and death is low.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does age affect personal and social reactions to COVID-19: Results from the national Understanding America Study

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous impact on Americans’ lives including their personal and social behaviors. While people of all ages are affected in some way by the pandemic, older persons have been far more likely to suffer the most severe health consequences. For this reason, how people have responded to mitigating behaviors to COVID-19 may differ by age. Using a nationally representative sample from the longitudinal data of the Understanding America Study (UAS), we examined differentials in behavioral responses to COVID-19 by age and how they changed over the first three months of the pandemic. Behavioral responses and changes in behavior over time differed by age, type of behaviors and time reference. At the beginning of the pandemic (March, 2020), older and younger people were similar in their likelihood of engaging in preventive personal behaviors when controlling for other influences. As the pandemic progressed, however, older people adopted mitigating personal behavioral changes more than younger people, such that about 1–2 months after the pandemic started, older people were more likely to comply with suggested behaviors and regulations including practicing better hygiene, quarantining, and social distancing. One month into the pandemic, older people were less likely than younger people to engage in two of four risky behaviors. The change in risky behavior over time did not differ by age; but both younger and older people were more likely to engage in risky behaviors after two months. Being female, a member of a racial/ethnic minority group, higher socioeconomic status, having more COVID-19 cases in one’s state of residence, a higher perceived risk for infection and dying, and a more left-leaning political orientation were related to adopting more pandemic mitigating behaviors.

show abstract

“…Studies showed that the spreading prevalence of this new coronavirus is due to the mobility and interaction of people who have been transferred from one location to another through outbound flight, public transport, and joining crowds (McCloskey et al, 2020;Pluchino et al, 2020). Researchers and health experts are stressing on applying social alienation strategies, for instance, the workplace and cafe closures, exclusions of large public gatherings and religious pilgrimage, home quarantine or segregation, and traditional outbreak response technique-isolation, curfew, lockdown, social distancing, and community containment to curb the epidemic (Allcott et al, 2020;Wilder-Smith & Freedman, 2020). Subsequently, WHO, health professionals, and academia are also repetitively urging the world to maintain a social distance of 1 meter away from crowds and public gathering all over the globe (Abel & McQueen, 2020;Kumar, 2020; WHO, 2020) as a pro-active safety behavior to fight against COVID-19.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting ahead: Adoption of social distancing in COVID-19 outbreak through the lens of theory of planned behavior

Das

Jilani²,

Uddin

et al. 2021

Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract: NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Cited by 821 publications

References 42 publications

Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the US: Longitudinal evidence from a nationally representative sample of adults from April–October 2020

Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the US: Longitudinal evidence from a nationally representative sample of adults from April–October 2020

How does age affect personal and social reactions to COVID-19: Results from the national Understanding America Study

Fighting ahead: Adoption of social distancing in COVID-19 outbreak through the lens of theory of planned behavior

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About