‘The nexus of politics, pandemic policies, and travel emotions: insights from a state-level analysis of a pandemic’

One of the clearest manifestations of polarization during the pandemic was the public’s response to policy measures. Data collected from over 15,000 U.S. respondents between March and October 2020 revealed significant variations in how individuals perceived risk and compliance with health directives. For instance, perceived risk decreased over time as individuals adapted to the crisis, yet this decline was moderated by political polarization. Respondents in Republican-leaning states showed a more gradual reduction in risk perception than those in Democrat-leaning states, where perceptions of risk diminished rapidly. In contrast, the stringency of COVID-19 measures had a stronger influence on risk perception in Republican-leaning states than in Democrat-learning states. This reflects findings by Bavel et al. (2020), who argue that partisan alignment shapes public trust in policy measures and their perceived effectiveness.