Republicans, Not Democrats, Are More Likely to Endorse Anti-Vaccine Misinformation

Abstract

Vaccine safety skeptics are often thought to be more likely to self-identify as Democrats (vs. Independents or Republicans). Recent studies, however, suggest that childhood vaccine misinformation is either more common among Republicans, or is uninfluenced by partisan identification (PID). Uncertainty about the partisan underpinnings of vaccine misinformation acceptance is important, as it could complicate efforts to pursue pro-vaccine health policies. I theorize that Republicans should be more likely to endorse anti-vaccine misinformation, as they tend to express more-negative views toward scientific experts. Across six demographically and nationally representative surveys, I find that—while few Americans think that “anti-vaxxers” are more likely to be Republicans than Democrats—Republican PID is significantly associated with the belief that childhood vaccines can cause autism. Consistent with theoretical expectations, effect is strongly mediated by anti-expert attitudes—an effect which supplemental panel analyses suggest is unlikely to be reverse causal.

Politicization and COVID-19 vaccine resistance in the U.S.

“…Political conflict and coverage surrounding the nature and risk of the virus set the stage for segments of the public to be relatively more receptive to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. 34 Attitudes toward receiving a vaccine can be “understood as a continuum ranging from outright refusal to active demand for immediate uptake.” 35 (p1), 36 , 37 Since the beginning stages of testing for COVID-19 vaccines, polls indicated that a sizeable percentage of people in the United States were vaccine resistant , defined as unwilling to get vaccinated once one became available. 38 Many people were also vaccine hesitant , defined as a preference to wait for others have been vaccinated before deciding for themselves.…”

“…Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe anti-vaccine misinformation. 34 This reflected a growing skepticism among conservatives toward the scientific community in general, in part due to the rise of right-wing populist messages that pit “ordinary people” against “corrupt elites.” 56 , 57 This distrust of experts was associated with the rejection of scientific messages about vaccines. 58 Populist rhetoric may have primed anti-intellectual considerations that made public health messages less impactful among conservatives.…”

The Influence of Partisan Media in the Face of Global Pandemic: How News Media Influenced COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

“…In recent years, however, Republicans are more likely to endorse vaccine related misinformation (Motta, 2021) and are less likely to trust medical experts promoting vaccines . This, coupled with the salience of COVID-vaccines relative to other vaccinations, as well as the politicization of COVID as a domain, renders it unsurprising that attitudes about COVID vaccines would follow the same politicized path as other COVID attitudes.…”

“…We measured COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy by asking respondents "When a vaccine for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) becomes widely available, how likely are you to request to be vaccinated?" (see: Motta et al, 2021;Callaghan et al, 2021 for examples of studies using this approach to measuring COVID-19 vaccination intentions). Respondents could reply that they were "very likely," "somewhat likely," "not too likely," or "not likely at all" to do so.…”

Attitudes toward civil liberties and rights among politically charged online groups

“…Even though economic conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism tend to be positively correlated (Azevedo, Jost, Rothmund, & Sterling, 2019), previous studies have found that social conservatism acts as a confounder variable in the association between both constructs (Everett, 2013;Fasce & Avendaño, 2020;Costello & Lilienfeld, 2020). Indeed, there is theoretical compatibility between being economically conservative and socially liberal, as the liberal values lying at the root of neoliberalism prioritize the need to promote individual freedom and perspective taking between ideological counterparts (Van Zomeren, Fischer, & Spears, 2007;Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008;Crowson, 2009)-which may also result in counterproductive attitudes, as can be seen from the existing proneness among conservatives to endorse conspiracy theories around climate change (van der Linden, Panagopoulos, Azevedo, & Jost, 2020) and vaccinations (Motta, 2021).…”