Carl LeVan and James Bryan, A Cross-National Analysis of Trust and Support for Pandemic Response Measures
Even as COVID-19 threatened millions of lives, people in many countries resisted public health recommendations. In a cross-national study of pandemic response, SIS Professor Carl LeVan and PhD alum聽James Bryan聽demonstrate that political trust across different institutions predicts support for policies to manage the health risks.
LeVan and Bryan disaggregate political trust, creating separate measures for 鈥減artisan鈥 and 鈥渘onpartisan鈥 controlled institutions. Their聽empirical strategy utilizes data from Eurobarometer, Afrobarometer, and Arab Barometer surveys across 57 countries. Tests of a 鈥渧ertical trust鈥 hypothesis demonstrate that trust in partisan and nonpartisan institutions predict support for pandemic restrictions and willingness to get vaccinated. Interestingly, the strength of the relationships varies across and within countries. Tests of a 鈥渃ontingent solidarity鈥 hypothesis reveal widespread politicization of the pandemic by democratic and autocratic incumbents alike.
LeVan and Bryan聽conclude by exploring how infusing neutral, nonpartisan institutions with subjective political narratives stokes mistrust in 鈥渟cientific authority鈥 and harms democracy.
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