COVID-19, Mental Health, and Political Support

• In Event: Responsiveness and Political Efficacy in Advanced Democracies

Abstract

Scientists have predicted that there will be effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that will have critical implications for people’s mental health. At the same time, initial studies of the impact of pandemic responses on political support and attitudes have yielded inconsistent results. We bridge these two lines of research and argue that mental health mediates the relation between COVID-19 stressors and political support. We test this hypothesis using novel survey data from a representative sample of the British population. Our dataset includes information about respondents’ levels of worry and stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, depression, anxiety, stress, and political attitudes including political efficacy, satisfaction and trust. Our findings elucidate how mental health may affect people’s perceptions of politics.

Authors

• Luca Bernardi, University of Liverpool

• Ian H Gotlib, Stanford University