In the News: Shana Kushner Gadarian

"Attitudes and behaviors around COVID-19 have become really concrete at this point — it will take a lot to move them in a significant, lasting way," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"We've been talking to the same [3,000] Americans since early March, every six weeks or so," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. What they found is that Americans were "using their partisanship as the top way to screen new information and decide what to do."

"We thought that the more worried people were about COVID, the more likely they were to be following all of the, kind of public health best practices," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. "And that's not what we found. What we found was that the biggest divider in people's behaviors was not their age, not their demographics, not their education; it was their partisanship."

"The biggest risk" with Republicans following best public health practices and wearing masks, "is that the president will pick you out for ridicule, or if you had someone running against you, the president would endorse that person," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. 

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, explains that face masks, during the COVID-19 pandemic, became politicized and that we need to prevent a similar reaction when it comes time to convince the public they should get vaccinated for a similar public health crisis. 

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, says she was surprised to see such enormous divides emerge as the pandemic wore on, as according to other research she’s conducted, moments of extreme anxiety and uncertainty can actually make people more open to new sources of information.

"The big takeaway of all of the data is partisanship is the big determinant of all of the behavior," says Associate Professor of Political Science Shana Gadarian.

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, says people tend to get cues from their elected officials. "The political leaders of the Republican party for a long time have not had a consistent message about what keeps people safe," Gadarian says.

"If Democrats are taking more precautions because of the coronavirus, we may see them not turn out as much as they would have without the pandemic," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

 75% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans said they wore masks in public, finds a study conducted by Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, and her colleagues.

“People are taking their cues from political leadership and from doctors, and to the extent that those are different, people will turn to their more trusted sources,” says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"Normally, I think that people take cues from the president but since his messaging has been relatively muddled... people seem to be filling in their preferred position for his," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. 

"We’ve recommended that the medical experts be up front and center, and the political leaders take a step back and defer to the doctors and to the head of the health agencies, because that’s who anxious people want to hear from," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"When you hear [health] experts saying one thing and the head of your [political] party saying another, that’s a troubling kind of thing to decide," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. In the United States, "What we’re seeing evidence of is that Republicans are basically going with what the president says."

"Partisanship is determining how citizens respond to COVID-19, and this divided response puts every American at risk," Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, and her co-authors write. "If America’s political elite cannot come together, the costs of COVID-19 will be disproportionately felt in those places where Republicans did not act." 

"The divide in anxiety along partisan lines is very troubling," and that it is "likely to continue until the president and conservative media allow the health experts to lead the messaging," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, along with Bethany Albertson of the University of Texas, discussed their book "Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World," and how it can help explain the current public health crisis.