Public assessment of the Trump administration’s handling of the Covid pandemic: a case study in lifelong learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic is the most serious public health crisis in the lifetime of most living adults, but it may be a precursor of crises to come in the decades ahead. Apart from the health challenges associated with the pandemic, the public reaction to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic offers important insights into the role of lifelong learning about rapidly emerging issues and public policy decisions. Using data from a two-wave national probability sample of U.S. adults in 2020, we examine the influence of formal schooling, informal and occupational lifelong learning, religious beliefs and attitudes, current understanding of the coronavirus, and trust in information sources on the formation of an attitudinal assessment of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Trump Administration. We find that formal educational attainment, college science courses, biological literacy, and current coronavirus understanding are significant predictors of adult assessment of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Trump Administration. We explore the implications of these findings for lifelong education in the 21st century.