Polarization in a pandemic

Issue 13: Why polarization has been a public health catastrophe during the pandemic; new research explaining why people spread misinformation; a book on happiness; and our events for the fall.

What kind of person comes to mind when you think of an anti-vaxxer? For many people, the stereotypic image is a liberal soccer mom perhaps from the West Coast (as seen in this editorial cartoon from the Wisconsin State Journal).

But as the US and other countries grapple with vaccine hesitancy, an entirely different segment of society is proving reluctant to get their shot. Since the very beginning the pandemic, Americans’ understanding of the risks involved has been highly polarized. Republicans were skeptical and Democrats took it far more seriously.

Jay wrote a column for the Washington Post in March 2020 arguing that effective collection action on the pandemic would be impossible if people with different political viewpoints could not agree on basic facts about the underlying risks.