Fear of death and polarization: political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Resumo Desde sempre a humanidade se aflige com o fim da existência. Em algumas ocasiões, como a atual pandemia do novo coronavírus, percebemos sua presença mais de perto. Até que ponto o medo da morte pode alterar percepções e crenças dos indivíduos? É nesse contexto de incertezas e medos que decidimos investigar de que modo a sociedade brasileira vem avaliando seus governantes, sobretudo em relação à política de isolamento social. A pandemia da COVID-19 alterou os eixos da polarização política. De um lado, governadores, prefeitos e legisladores preocupados com os riscos de estrangulamento do sistema de saúde causado pela pandemia. De outro, o presidente Jair Bolsonaro, focado primordialmente nas consequências econômicas negativas da política de isolamento social. Por meio de uma pesquisa de opinião, identificamos que o “medo da morte” diminuiu a polarização ideológica existente no Brasil desde a eleição de Jair Bolsonaro à presidência da República. Ao contrário do que muitos esperavam, os eleitores que se auto-identificaram como de direita e centro-direita - supostamente, o núcleo de eleitores de Bolsonaro - rejeitaram seguir a recomendação e avaliam mal a performance de seu líder. Também mostramos que essa mudança de comportamento não foi influenciada pelos diferentes níveis de renda.

Prevalence and risk factors of psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the ELSA-Brasil COVID-19 mental health cohort

“…This is surprising as the Brazilian president adopted a radical anti-quarantine attitude, promoting mass rallies and systematically undermining the severity of the pandemic (The Lancet, 2020 a ), whereas the institutional/municipal/state instances adopted a pro-quarantine/pro-science perspective. Possibly, political identity and ideology are protective factors since they are cognitive shortcuts to support shared beliefs and similar choices (Pereira, Medeiros, & Bertholini, 2020 ), decreasing the mental burden in choosing between difficult options.…”

COVID-19 in oncology palliative care: psychological stress from the perspective of psychodynamics at work

“…In view of this critical situation and with the increasing number of suspected and confirmed cases for COVID-19, the overwhelming workload, added to the scarcity of PPE, wide media coverage, lack of specific medications, inadequate support for nursing and the need to restructure care to better adapt to the new clinical profile of patients with suspicions and confirmed for COVID-19, contributed to the increase in the occurrence of psychological stress by the nursing team (14).…”

Populists and the Pandemic

“…While Pereira et al maintain that " fear of death" alters and weakens patterns of political polarization in Brazil, as some right-wing and center-right voters do not endorse President Bolsonaro's lax positions on social distancing ( Pereira, Medeiros, and Bertholini 2020), most evidence from Brazil indicates that opposition to mainstream mitigation measures is driven by ideology ( e.g., Ramos et al 2020) and in particular by bolsonarismo, or popular adherence and devotion to Bolsonaro himself: supporters of Bolsonaro are generally supportive of his radical positions toward the pandemic ( Rennó et al 2021), opposed to vaccination ( Gramacho and Turgeon 2021), more likely to maintain authoritarian attitudes when overall levels of authoritarianism among Brazilians have decreased since 2018 ( Avritzer and Rennó 2021), and less knowledgeable about COVID-19 and more likely to believe in conspiracy theories ( Gramacho et al 2021). The evidence is similarly clear-cut in the USA: it consistently shows that partisanship affects adherence to World Health Organization's ( WHO) recommendations to confront the pandemic.…”