Media Choice and the Polarization of Public Opinion About Covid-19 in Brazil

Abstract


 
 
 Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, while rates of contagion and deaths increase over time, polls show that opinions about the pandemic become less concerned about the virus and less supportive of mitigation measures. According to observers, a key factor in this process is President Bolsonaro’s denialist stance. In this paper, we show that patterns of media choice help explain how Bolsonaro influences public opinion over time. Using three online surveys conducted at different stages of the pandemic, we show that the divergence in views about the pandemic is driven largely by Bolsonaro supporters who prefer to consume news online. The findings have implications not just for understanding the politicization of the pandemic in Brazil, but also for the relationship between populism and mass communications in the social media era.
 
 

Communication, information, and knowledge in the pandemic by COVID-19 in Brazil

“…[29] On the other hand, similar studies from Malaysia, [30] India, [31] Lebanon, [32] and China [33] have found somewhat lower knowledge levels about COVID-19, but not as low as that observed in a study conducted in Bangladesh, which showed that only 33% of the participants had a good level of knowledge about COVID-19. [34] The fact that during this study's data collection period, Brazil had one of the fastest-growing COVID-19 epidemics in the world, [2] which resulted in it being the country with most cases and deaths in Latin America, [35] and the intense coverage of the pandemic by Brazilian mainstream media, with high-quality content due to the participation of well-known researchers and health professionals, [36] might explain the high level of knowledge found in this study.…”

Aprobación presidencial y preocupación por la COVID-19 en México

“…Las preferencias políticas han sido identificadas como un factor que también explica la opinión de los ciudadanos respecto a creencias sobre temas científicos (Kahan et al, 2012;McCright y Dunlap, 2011;Rutjens et al, 2018). En línea con esta literatura, diversos estudios han encontrado que las preferencias políticas inciden en la percepción de gravedad de COVID-19 (Aruguete et al, 2021;Aruguete y Calvo, 2020;Barrios y Hochberg, 2021;Batista Pereira y Nunes, 2021;Clinton et al, 2021;Pennycook et al, 2022;Pickup et al, 2020). Específicamente en países con presidentes que menospreciaron la gravedad de la enfermedad por coronavirus, se observa que los ciudadanos tienden a preocuparse menos por la pandemia.…”

“…Diversos estudios encuentran que la percepción de gravedad del virus está asociada a las preferencias políticas (Aruguete et al, 2021;Aruguete y Calvo, 2020;Barrios y Hochberg, 2021;Batista Pereira y Nunes, 2021;Clinton et al, 2021;Pennycook et al, 2022;Pickup et al, 2020) La ideología e identificación partidista fungen como filtros por los que los ciudadanos forman opiniones sobre asuntos públicos. Por esto, los mensajes de la élite influyen en la percepción de los ciudadanos sobre diferentes temas (Zaller, 1992).…”

“…En estos casos, los presidentes minimizaron el riesgo del virus y su propagación, por lo que sus simpatizantes reportaban menor preocupación y ansiedad por la enfermedad (Barrios y Hochberg, 2021). Si el enmarcamiento y tono de los mensajes políticos afectan la percepción sobre gravedad del covid (Aruguete et al, 2021;Aruguete y Calvo, 2020;Batista Pereira y Nunes, 2021;, entonces, se esperaría observar que sólo en estos países, con respecto al resto de la región, haya una relación negativa entre preferencias por el gobierno en turno y el nivel de preocupación por el coronavirus.…”

The Unmasked Electorate: Co-Partisanship, Personal Experience, and Perceptions of COVID-19 Risk in Mexico

“…Public opinion research suggests that citizen perceptions of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are influenced by partisan affiliation. Partisanship shapes an individual's perception of their risk of falling victim to COVID-19, their assessment of the overall gravity of the pandemic, and attitudes toward mitigation measures (Aruguete and Calvo, 2020;Dryhurst et al, 2020;Clements, 2020;Pickup et al, 2020;Sobral et al, 2020;Batista Pereira and Nunes, 2021;Calvo and Ventura, 2021;Clinton et al, 2021;Gadarian et al, 2021;Arugete et al, 2021). The preponderance of research on how partisan affiliation shapes COVID-19 risk perception was carried out in the global North, primarily in the United States (US).…”