Vaccine Hesitancy: A Young Partisan’s Game

• In Event: Navigating Public Health Challenges

Abstract

Partisanship is a factor behind COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Conservative Republicans are more hesitant than liberal Democrats (Cowan, Mark, and Reich 2021). Importantly, older adults tend to be more conservative (Peterson, Smith, and Hibbing 2020), yet exhibit less vaccine hesitancy overall. Knowing this, we investigate the moderating effect of age on vaccine attitudes, which is overlooked in existing literature. Leveraging the Health Beliefs Model (HBM) and data from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (N=15,000), we report that the relationship between ideology and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is conditional on age. For adults over 70, ideology has no systematic effect on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Furthermore, for younger conservatives and liberals, vaccination attitudes are more closely tied to ideology than previously known. Our unique findings uncover generational differences that have troubling implications: as older voters embrace the benefits of vaccination; younger voters are polarized and present potential challenges to future pandemic response.

Authors

• Ginger Alonso, California State University, Chico

• Spencer Kiesel, UC Davis