Abstract
We investigate trends in public opinion before and during the COVID-19 pandemic on concern about the virus, efforts to combat its spread, and support for various health care policy reforms. Using data from more than 400,000 interviews covering every state in the country over a 1-year period, we demonstrate initially high levels of concern about the virus and support for restrictions to combat it across geography and political party. Over time, however, these sentiments fade, and a partisan divide opens up as Republican concern and support drops more quickly. We find little evidence that the pandemic has shifted opinions on health care reforms such as Medicare-for-all. We argue that the differences in these trends have more to do with messages from party leaders about the pandemic and less to do with the virusâs state-level infection rates. While nearly everyone has been affected in some way by the pandemic, for most voters, the pandemicâs challenges have not translated into a desire for more sweeping change to the nationâs health care system.
Highlights
The Pandemic and PoliticsAs of November 14, 2020, the novel coronavirus has infected at least 53.4 million people worldwide, killed more than one million people, and disrupted nearly every aspect of social, political, and cultural life
We investigate trends in public opinion before and during the COVID-19 pandemic on concern about the virus, efforts to combat its spread, and support for various health care policy reforms
Using data from more than 400,000 interviews covering every state in the country over a 1-year period, we demonstrate initially high levels of concern about the virus and support for restrictions to combat it across geography and political party
Summary
As of November 14, 2020, the novel coronavirus has infected at least 53.4 million people worldwide, killed more than one million people, and disrupted nearly every aspect of social, political, and cultural life. People’s opinions about policies intended to combat the pandemic affect the ability of elected leaders to enact those policies, many of which impose substantial costs on citizens. Taking advantage of an extraordinarily large survey effort, the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, we map the contours of public opinion about the coronavirus and health care policy across geography and political party. We show initially high levels of concern about the virus and support for key measures to combat it Over time, these sentiments have decreased, among Republicans. The pandemic has not created a groundswell of support for larger government involvement in the health care system This suggests that Americans have not yet heard messages from political leaders or others that would help them connect the pandemic to the need for larger scale policy reforms
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