(Partisan) Elite Messaging and Emotion in Public Health Crises

• In Event: External Influences on Candidate Evaluations

Abstract

The hyper-partisan nature of the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that other health policy areas may be subject to polarization. In this paper, I argue that partisan elite communication about public health crises lead individuals to structure their attitudes and affective reactions along these lines. I ask: What role do partisan elite cues play in the development of anxiety about public health outbreaks? I employ an original survey experiment in which American adults are exposed to varied message and messenger frames regarding an emerging Polio outbreak. Participants are randomly assigned to treatment conditions containing neutral or fear-inducing information stemming from a co-partisan/out-partisan elite, or the American Medical Association. Through this design, I am able to directly test whether messages from co-partisans are more/less impactful than messages from neutral, medical officials across a number of outcomes (affect, trust/blame, health policy attitudes). As public health crises inevitably emerge, it is important to develop a more nuanced understanding of who the American public turns to for vital health information, as well as the factors that influence how individuals internalize this information.

Authors

• Nicholas Charles Damico, Syracuse University

• Shana Kushner Gadarian, Syracuse University