Contagious politics and Covid-19

Does the Infectious Disease Hit Populist Supporters Harder

Bibliographic Data

ID6050128
AuthorsAline Burni (0000-0002-5776-7515, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, Germany), Daniel Stockemer (0000-0003-3502-6828, University of Ottawa), Christine Hackenesch (0000-0001-7386-9055, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, Germany, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue4
Pages466-491
Publication date2023-08-08
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9775 • E-ISSN: 1469-3631
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13569775.2023.2175488
OpenAlexW4320495777
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited57

As an example of a typical right-wing populist, Jair Bolsonaro downplayed Covid-19 and rejected scientific evidence to address the pandemic. We argue that both his communication style and approach to crisis management had consequences for the behavioural patterns of his followers, which, in turn, had public health implications. Building on survey research, we demonstrate how Bolsonaro's supporters were less likely to consider the pandemic as a key challenge for the country, less worried about getting infected and less likely to wear masks. We show that this 'riskier' behaviour had concrete repercussions. Even after controlling for confounders such as population density, age, education and wealth, municipalities with higher aggregate support for Bolsonaro had higher Covid-19 infection rates in 2020 and saw more people dying from the virus

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Development economics · Disease · Economics · Environmental health · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Pandemic · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Virology

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