TY - JOUR
T1 - Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Gollwitzer, Anton
AU - Martel, Cameron
AU - Brady, William J.
AU - Pärnamets, Philip
AU - Freedman, Isaac G.
AU - Knowles, Eric D.
AU - Van Bavel, Jay J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank J. Marshall, A. Deslatte, C. Routledge, and the NYU Social Identity & Morality Lab for their helpful feedback. We also thank Unacast for sharing their data with us. P.P. was supported by the Swedish Research Council (no. 2016-06793). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Numerous polls suggest that COVID-19 is a profoundly partisan issue in the United States. Using the geotracking data of 15 million smartphones per day, we found that US counties that voted for Donald Trump (Republican) over Hillary Clinton (Democrat) in the 2016 presidential election exhibited 14% less physical distancing between March and May 2020. Partisanship was more strongly associated with physical distancing than numerous other factors, including counties’ COVID-19 cases, population density, median income, and racial and age demographics. Contrary to our predictions, the observed partisan gap strengthened over time and remained when stay-at-home orders were active. Additionally, county-level consumption of conservative media (Fox News) was related to reduced physical distancing. Finally, the observed partisan differences in distancing were associated with subsequently higher COVID-19 infection and fatality growth rates in pro-Trump counties. Taken together, these data suggest that US citizens’ responses to COVID-19 are subject to a deep—and consequential—partisan divide.
AB - Numerous polls suggest that COVID-19 is a profoundly partisan issue in the United States. Using the geotracking data of 15 million smartphones per day, we found that US counties that voted for Donald Trump (Republican) over Hillary Clinton (Democrat) in the 2016 presidential election exhibited 14% less physical distancing between March and May 2020. Partisanship was more strongly associated with physical distancing than numerous other factors, including counties’ COVID-19 cases, population density, median income, and racial and age demographics. Contrary to our predictions, the observed partisan gap strengthened over time and remained when stay-at-home orders were active. Additionally, county-level consumption of conservative media (Fox News) was related to reduced physical distancing. Finally, the observed partisan differences in distancing were associated with subsequently higher COVID-19 infection and fatality growth rates in pro-Trump counties. Taken together, these data suggest that US citizens’ responses to COVID-19 are subject to a deep—and consequential—partisan divide.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41562-020-00977-7
DO - 10.1038/s41562-020-00977-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 33139897
AN - SCOPUS:85094960599
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 4
SP - 1186
EP - 1197
JO - Nature human behaviour
JF - Nature human behaviour
IS - 11
ER -