Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic
Open accessAbstract
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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Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes and behavior related to the pandemic were especially polarized, with Republicans and Democrats in the United States having strikingly different attitudes about public health behaviors and the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes and behavior related to the pandemic were especially polarized, with Republicans and Democrats in the United States having strikingly different attitudes about public health behaviors and the COVID-19 vaccine (Gollwitzer et al. 2020, Van Bavel et al. 2023).”
From Social Media and Morality. (2024) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer et al. 2020
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredStudies considering multiple platforms can offer a fresh view on long-debated problems, as recently shown in the case of selective exposure to news outlets.
“As recently shown in the case of selective exposure to news outlets, studies considering multiple platforms can offer a fresh view on long-debated problems (34).”
From The echo chamber effect on social media (2021) · cites this paper as [34]
The 'Partisan media and physical distancing' and 'Fox News preference' sections compare viewership of Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC in relation to physical distancing. Our copy does not address whether studying multiple platforms offered a fresh view of selective exposure to news outlets (searched: selective exposure, multiple platforms). (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Gollwitzer, A., Martel, C., Brady, W. J., Pärnamets, P., Freedman, I. G., Knowles, E. D., & Van Bavel, J. J.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gollwitzer, Anton
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Published
- 2020-11-02
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1186-1197
- ISSN
- 2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3095866569
- Cited by
- 609
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 64 · 2023: 123 · 2022: 152 · 2021: 165 · 2020: 12
- FWCI
- 17.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Vetenskapsrådet (2016-06793)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, partisanship, 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump, Fox News, stay-at-home orders, COVID-19 infection rates, COVID-19 mortality, county-level health outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Physical Distancing, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Attitude to Health, Humans, Politics, Social Perception, United States, Federal Government
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