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A Rare Moment of Cross-Partisan Consensus

Elite and Public Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Canada

Bibliographic Data

ID7265752
AuthorsEric Merkley (0000-0001-7647-9650, University of Toronto, corresponding author), Aengus Bridgman (0000-0003-1130-1258, McGill University), Peter John Loewen (0000-0003-2690-4158, University of Toronto), Taylor Owens, Taylor Owen (0000-0003-1848-187X, McGill University), Derek Ruths (0000-0002-5592-6412, McGill University), Oleg Zhilin (McGill University)
Year2020
Volume53
Issue2
Pages311-318
Publication date2020-04-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423920000311
OpenAlexW3017390025
LanguageEN
Citations received106
References cited11

The COVID-19 pandemic requires an effort to coordinate the actions of government and society in a way unmatched in recent history. Individual citizens need to voluntarily sacrifice economic and social activity for an indefinite period of time to protect others. At the same time, we know that public opinion tends to become polarized on highly salient issues, except when political elites are in consensus (Berinsky, 2009; Zaller, 1992). Avoiding elite and public polarization is thus essential for an effective societal response to the pandemic. In the United States, there appears to be elite and public polarization on the severity of the pandemic (Gadarian et al., 2020). Other evidence suggests that polarization is undermining compliance with social distancing (Cornelson and Miloucheva, 2020). Using a multimethod approach, we show that Canadian political elites and the public are in a unique period of cross-partisan consensus on important questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as its seriousness and the necessity of social distancing

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Elite · Pandemic · Polarization (electrochemistry · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Social distance · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics

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Unique citing works106
Citations per year17,67
Citation span2020 - 2026 (7)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 105
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