Political Polarization and the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States

Abstract

This chapter examines the effects of political orientation, right-wing media usage, and direct experience with the Covid-19 virus on people’s perceptions of the virus’s seriousness and their assessments of President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis. Using survey data from the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, I show that strong partisanship (being a liberal Democrat or, especially, a conservative Republican) polarizes public opinion concerning the seriousness of Covid-19 and Trump’s job performance. Increased reliance has a similar effect, but direct experience with the virus itself has little impact on these attitudes. My analyses illuminate the fact that people in the United States today exist in two separate political echo chambers, and that these divisions are having life-and-death ramifications.