New research helps to explain the association between political conservatism and riskier pandemic lifestyles. According to new research published in Discover Social Science and Health, political conservatives tend to be less empathetic, hold more authoritarian beliefs, and feel less threatened by the pandemic, which in turn is associated with reduced adherence to COVID-19 health recommendations. ...
It's funny, but that kinda emphasizes what bugs me about these sorts of studies. They're comparing two groups of people who are basically arguing over a line in the sand while people like us aren't even on the beach. Sure, Fox News and Newsmax happily pushed narratives questioning the pandemic, but more "liberal" outlets still platformed those relatively small groups of well-funded protests to make them appear much more popular than they were and regularly shifted their narratives towards Covid Denial-lite as the right wing media made room for them.
Anecdote: I'm down here in Florida and watched liberals, in response to anti-lockdown protests, rabble rabble about how conservatives didn't care about the health of workers. And then, less than 3 months after DeSantis opened Florida back up, those same liberals were out at the Theme Parks patting themselves on the back because they were wearing masks as they put workers in danger side by side with anti-maskers. And then of course, after months of media normalizing the anti-mask protests, it didn't take long for those masks to disappear.💁♂️