New research from the UBC Sauder School of Business suggests that Republicans are more likely to follow COVID-19 guidelines to protect themselves rather than for their community
According to new research from the UBC Sauder School of Business, a different approach to public health messaging could help ease the Republican-Democrat divide when it comes to COVID-19 measures and potentially save lives.
Millions of Americans, many of them conservatives, have refused to wear masks, social distance or obey limits on social gatherings following the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Researchers from UBC Sauder, Boston University and Stockholm Business School, set out to determine why that was, and how respondents from both sides of the political fence felt about personal responsibility. 2,300 U.S. participants, both Republicans and Democrats were examined.
In the study, they found that conservatives tend to focus on self-reliance, whereas liberals take more of a community-minded view. Democrats tend to feel their community-minded actions make a difference, whereas many Republicans believe they aren’t particularly helpful.
UBC Sauder Professor Katherine White, who is also the academic director of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics, explains: “Republicans have this perception that if they do the social distancing, the mask wearing, the hand sanitizing and all these different things, they have less of an impact on others — whereas the Democrats feel like these behaviours will have an impact on others.
“So Republicans basically say, ‘It’s my choice and I’m going to do what I want. It’s not really affecting anyone else.'”
“Keep Yourself Safe”
In one study, the researchers asked participants to adopt and use a contact-tracing app where participants were given different messages about the benefits of the app. Some focused on protecting the self (“Keep Yourself Safe”) and some aimed at helping others (“Help Save Lives”).
“We find that the self-focused messages resonate significantly better with Republicans and make them more likely to use the app,” says White, who adds that focusing on individual protections doesn’t alienate Democrats or cause a backfire effect.
But the findings don’t necessarily mean that conservatives are less compassionate, emphasizes White. “Some people say, ‘Conservatives just don’t care about other people.’ And I don’t think that’s what we’re finding,” she says. “What we’re finding is that they don’t see their behaviours as impacting others, which is very interesting.”
Because of the Republican-Democrat divide when it comes to COVID-19 measures, White recommends that public health officials carefully consider where they’re placing their messages, then tailor them to the specific audience.
“You could have one that says ‘do it for others’ in the more liberal media, and then have more of the ‘think about yourself and your close family’ for Republican audiences,” says White. “Don’t necessarily assume it’s one size fits all.”
The study authors also surveyed participants to determine their level of liberalism or conservatism, and noticed that the findings were amplified when participants were more deeply rooted in their respective political parties.
