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Elite party cues increase vaccination intentions among Republicans

Author

Listed:
  • Sophia L. Pink

    (Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

  • James Chu

    (Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027)

  • James N. Druckman

    (Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208)

  • David G. Rand

    (Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139)

  • Robb Willer

    (Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

Abstract

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic requires motivating the vast majority of Americans to get vaccinated. However, vaccination rates have become politically polarized, and a substantial proportion of Republicans have remained vaccine hesitant for months. Here, we explore how endorsements by party elites affect Republicans’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions and attitudes. In a preregistered survey experiment ( n = 1,480), we varied whether self-identified Republicans saw endorsements of the vaccine from prominent Republicans (including video of a speech by former President Donald Trump), from the Democratic Party (including video of a speech by President Joseph Biden), or a neutral control condition including no endorsements. Unvaccinated Republicans who were exposed to the Republican elite endorsement reported 7.0% higher vaccination intentions than those who viewed the Democratic elite endorsement and 5.7% higher than those in the neutral control condition. These effects were statistically mediated by participants’ reports of how much they thought Republican politicians would want them to get vaccinated. We also found evidence of backlash effects against Democratic elites: Republicans who viewed the Democratic elite endorsement reported they would be significantly less likely to encourage others to vaccinate and had more negative attitudes toward the vaccine, compared with those who viewed the Republican elite endorsement or the neutral control. These results demonstrate the relative advantage of cues from Republican elites—and the risks of messaging from Democrats currently in power—for promoting vaccination among the largest vaccine-hesitant subgroup in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophia L. Pink & James Chu & James N. Druckman & David G. Rand & Robb Willer, 2021. "Elite party cues increase vaccination intentions among Republicans," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(32), pages 2106559118-, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e2106559118
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Clemens, Jeffrey & Hoxie, Philip & Kearns, John & Veuger, Stan, 2023. "How did federal aid to states and localities affect testing and vaccine delivery?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    2. Raman, Shyam & Kriner, Douglas & Ziebarth, Nicolas & Simon, Kosali & Kreps, Sarah, 2022. "COVID-19 booster uptake among US adults: Assessing the impact of vaccine attributes, incentives, and context in a choice-based experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    3. Harsha Thirumurthy & Katherine L Milkman & Kevin G Volpp & Alison M Buttenheim & Devin G Pope, 2022. "Association between statewide financial incentive programs and COVID-19 vaccination rates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-7, March.
    4. Zhong, Wei & Broniatowski, David A., 2023. "Economic risk framing increases intention to vaccinate among Republican COVID-19 vaccine refusers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    5. Facciani, Matthew & Lazić, Aleksandra & Viggiano, Gracemarie & McKay, Tara, 2023. "Political network composition predicts vaccination attitudes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).

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