Political Partisanship, Trust, and Attitudes toward COVID-19 Vaccines in Indonesia

Abstract

Context: This study aims to examine the extent to which political partisanship— measured as support for the incumbent candidate for Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi) or its former challenger, Prabowo— affects the risk perception of COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and refusal as well as beliefs about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: Multinomial logistic and OLS regression analyses on a nationally representative sample of the National Survey on public trust in the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccinations held in December 2020. Findings: Individuals who voted for Prabowo–Sandi in the 2019 Presidential Election are more likely to have a lower level of willingness and a higher level of hesitancy to get the COVID-19 vaccine than those who cast their ballot for Jokowi–Amin as the Indonesian President. Conclusions: Political partisanship does matter in shaping individuals’ hesitancy or refusal toward the COVID-19 vaccine in Indonesia. The effect of partisanship is also significant in shaping individuals’ trust in the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, but it is not significantly associated with individuals’ risk perception.

The association of conspiracy beliefs and the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study

“…Respondents supporting an extreme right-wing party or those not participating in the election were significantly less likely to adhere to preventive measures than a supporter of the ruling conservative party [ 45 ]. A significant association between political partisanship and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination was also reported by other authors [ 46 – 50 ], and some have indicated that the effect of political views on attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination could be mediated by a predilection to vaccine conspiracy theories [ 51 ].…”

The influence of social media on religious identity politics among Indonesian millennial generation

“…The political division of society as a result of the polarization that occurred in the 2017 DKI Jakarta elections and continued in the 2019 election is still visible in the form of public response to government policies related to the handling of Covid-19. Some people who do not want to be vaccinated and neglect to wear masks are those who in the 2019 election chose Prabowo-Sandi as the presidential candidate against Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin (Halimatusa'diyah & Durriyah, 2022). There are fewer Prabowo supporters who are mostly from the younger generation and millennials who are willing to be vaccinated compared to Jokowi's supporters, who are mostly middle to upper class and willing to be vaccinated.…”