Politics can be bad for your health: Trumpism and COVID-19 Outcomes

Abstract

The political rise of Donald Trump and the ideology of Trumpism has had a major impact on American politics, culture, and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We began the process of validating a psychometric model of Trumpism using three waves (~1000 participants per wave) of data from national online surveys of adults conducted in the United States from June 2020 to February 2021 as part of the COVID-19 Adjustment and Behaviors Survey. We found that the covariance among measures of Trump approval and attitudes about race, immigration, policing, guns, and media bias were best accounted for by a single Trumpism factor, and that this factor was strongly related to attitudes about a rigged 2020 Presidential election, the Insurrection of January 6, 2021, and Trump idolatry. Trumpism was also associated with Republican party affiliation and White race, but had only small associations with age, sex, income, and education. Trumpism was associated with increased odds of a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, skepticism about the seriousness of COVID-19, lack of support for government restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19, less adherence to social distancing and mask wearing guidelines, anti-vax attitudes, and hesitancy to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Results indicate these measures provide a valid assessment of Trumpism which is likely to continue to play a major role in American political and cultural life for the foreseeable future.

Who bought a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States?: Associations with QAnon beliefs, right-wing political attitudes, intimate partner violence, antisocial behavior, suicidality, and mental health and substance use problems

“…COVID-19 variables. Given the anticipated associations with right-wing political attitudes (which are associated with less support for government mandates and personal mitigation strategies for COVID-19 [38]), we predicted that pandemic gun buyers would report a lower level of concern about the health risks of COVID-19 than non-gun owners.…”

“…Data were collected from September 16 through October 11, 2021, as part of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 Adjustment and Behaviors study [38] 12.3% non-Hispanic Black; 17.4% Hispanic; 5.3% Asian; 3.2% Other). Quotas were created for each variable and monitored while the survey was in the field.…”

“…Pro-gun attitudes. We used a four-item scale to assess attitudes about state regulations on the purchase and ownership of personal firearms and attitudes about gun ownership in general (e.g., The best defense against a tyrannical government is a well-armed citizenry) (α = .84 [38]).…”

Who bought a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States?: Associations with QAnon beliefs, right-wing political attitudes, intimate partner violence, antisocial behavior, suicidality, and mental health and substance use problems

“…Data were collected from September 16 through October 11, 2021, as part of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 Adjustment and Behaviors study [38] using an actively managed, double-opt-in research panel using Qualtrics XM survey software. Recruitment was designed to ascertain a sample consistent with major demographic characteristics of the United States adult population for age (12.8% 18-24; 17.7% 25-34; 16.7% 35-44; 17.7% 45-54; 16.4% 55-64; 18.8% +65), sex assigned at birth (51% female; 49% male), and race/ethnicity (61.9% non-Hispanic White; 12.3% non-Hispanic Black; 17.4% Hispanic; 5.3% Asian; 3.2% Other).…”

“…We used a 5-item scale to assess perceptions of police misconduct (e.g., Police are more concerned about exerting their authority than protecting citizens and enforcing laws. -reversed scored)) and racial bias in policing (e.g., The police treat Black and White people equally) (α = .79 [38]).…”