The Racialization of COVID-19: Views on How It Was Handled Are Not Just Partisan

• In Event: Graduate Student Research Lightning Round: Identity, Public Opinion

Abstract

(Note: This is a *re-submission* from last year, 2022. The paper was accepted, and then I confirmed but later withdrew. Currently, some revisions have been made and the framing of the paper has been adjusted.)

Millions of people have died from COVID-19. Research suggests that, in the United States, there is no widespread agreement on the pandemic’s severity, who is responsible for it, or what to do about it. Early on, it became clear that one’s stance on these issues could be predicted based on their partisanship. But we learned something else along the way: the COVID-19 pandemic was, and is, racialized. Black Americans are more likely to become infected and die from COVID-19, and white Americans are the least likely to report negative experiences from the pandemic. I use ANES data collected before the 2020 presidential election to assess views on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic – by the federal government, by Donald Trump, and by governors. I also assess views on vote by mail and the belief that the coronavirus was developed intentionally in a lab. I confirm the role of partisanship in all five cases. However, given the racialization of the pandemic, I also seek to amplify the role of racial identity in views on responses to COVID-19 – namely, the role of anti-Blackness versus the role of racial resentment versus the role of white consciousness. Racial resentment outperforms anti-Blackness and white consciousness. Taking view of these identity characteristics – anti-Blackness, racial resentment, and white consciousness – in addition to partisanship helps to inform how Americans view responses to COVID-19.

Author

• Joshua Jordan, Louisiana State University (LSU)