Explaining Political Differences in Attitudes to Vaccines in France: Partisan Cues, Disenchantment with Politics, and Political Sophistication

Abstract

Context: The role of political identities in determining attitudes to vaccines has attracted a lot of attention in the last decade. Explanations have tended to focus on the influence of party representatives on their sympathizers (partisan cues). Methods: Four representative samples of the French adult population completed online questionnaires between July 2021 and May 2022 (N = 9,177). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to test whether partisan differences in attitudes to vaccines are best explained by partisan cues or by parties’ differences in propensity to attract people who distrust the actors involved in vaccination policies. Findings: People who feel close to parties on the far left, parties on the far right, and green parties are more vaccine hesitant. The authors found a small effect of partisan cues and a much stronger effect of trust. More importantly, they show that the more politically sophisticated are less vaccine hesitant and that the nonpartisan are the biggest and most vaccine hesitant group. Conclusions: The literature on vaccine attitudes has focused on the case of the United States, but turning attention toward countries where disenchantment with politics is more marked helps researchers better understand the different ways trust, partisanship, and political sophistication can affect attitudes to vaccines.