Effects of Political Ideology and Partisanship on Attitudes towards Vaccines

• In Event: Navigating Public Health Challenges

Abstract

Beginning in late 2019, COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, killed over 1 million Americans and devastated the world for over a year before a vaccine was created and distributed. Vaccine hesitancy resurged in response to mRNA vaccine efforts, with politicians on the right and left politicizing the act of vaccination. Given the politicization of vaccination efforts, this paper looks at data from the 2020 American National Elections Studies survey to determine if political ideology and political partisanship influenced individuals’ attitudes towards vaccines and explores whether ideology or partisanship is a stronger predictor of attitudes toward vaccinations. Linear regressions were conducted and analyzed for effects of political ideology and political partisanship while controlling for identifiers of education, rural living, self-described ruralism, ethnicity, and sex. Results suggest that both political ideology and political partisanship are strong predictors of vaccine attitudes but may not be the strongest predictors. Of the independent variables tested, individuals who consider themselves ideologically liberal exhibited the most significant effect on vaccine attitudes overall. These results can help to inform future responses to pandemics.

Author

• Efrain Jimenez