When in Danger, Turn Right: Does Covid-19 Threat Promote Social Conservatism and Right-Wing Presidential Candidates?

Abstract

Drawing upon the Parasite Model of Democratization across two preregistered experiments conducted in the USA and Poland (total N = 1,237), we examined the psychological and political consequences of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. By manipulating saliency of COVID-19, we found that activating thinking about coronavirus may elevate Americans' and Poles' anxiety and indirectly promote their social conservatism all the way to support for more conservative presidential candidates. The pattern obtained was consistent in both countries, and it suggests that the pandemic may result in a shift in political views.