Divided we trust? The role of polarization on rally-around-the-flag effects during the COVID-19 crisis

This chapter studies rally-around-the-flag effects cross-nationally during the COVID-19 crisis, with a focus on the moderating role of media and political polarization. It relies on a comparative two-wave panel survey scoping across 17 countries to measure changes in trust in government before and after the outbreak of the pandemic and levels of media and political polarization. It finds that although rally effects are modest and vary across countries, the COVID-19 crisis on average increased trust in government cross-nationally. However, high initial levels of media polarization and increasing polarization between wave 1 and wave 2 systematically reduced rally effects. In contrast, where media polarization was low and political polarization did not increase before and after the outbreak of the pandemic, governments were much more able to capitalize on the crisis to increase their level of public support. The findings suggest a different logic for the moderating role of media and political polarization, which is discussed in the closing section. The chapter also discusses the implications of the findings for declining levels of trust in government, government capacity, and the handling of future crises.

ISBN:978-0-367-76185-1

Publication year:2021

Keywords:H1 Book chapter

BOF-keylabel:yes

Accessibility:Closed