Table 2. Political and sociodemographic influences on attitudes about media coverage, government action, and community responses to COVID-19.
| Covid-19 is receiving… Too little/the right amount media coverage (n = 738)a | The US government has … Not done enough in response to COVID-19 (n = 569)b | People are generally … Responding correctly to COVID-19 (n = 420)c | People are generally … Under-reacting to COVID-19 (n = 411)c | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | aOR (95% CI) | n (%) | aOR (95% CI) | n (%) | aOR (95% CI) | n (%) | aOR (95% CI) | |
| Political Ideologyd | ||||||||
| Leans Liberal | 413 (79.0) | 3.3 (2.1–5.2) | 370 (70.8) | 5.7 (3.3–9.7) | 224 (42.8) | 2.9 (1.6–5.3) | 233 (44.6) | 3.0 (1.6–5.5) |
| Moderate | 251 (68.9) | 2.3 (1.5–3.6) | 170 (47.4) | 2.5 (1.5–4.3) | 141 (39.3) | 1.7 (1.0–2.9) | 139 (38.7) | 1.8 (1.0–3.3) |
| Leans Conservative | 74 (50.0) | 1.0 | 29 (19.6) | 1.0 | 55 (37.2) | 1.0 | 39 (26.4) | 1.0 |
| News Source Biase | ||||||||
| Leans Liberal | 345 (75.9) | 1.1 (0.7–1.8) | 320 (70.3) | 2.7 (1.7–4.2) | 184 (40.4) | 1.3 (0.7–2.1) | 204 (44.8) | 1.9 (1.1–3.4) |
| Moderate | 246 (72.6) | 1.0 (0.7–1.6) | 166 (49.0) | 1.3 (0.8–2.0) | 141 (41.6) | 1.1 (0.7–1.8) | 135 (39.8) | 1.5 (0.9–2.5) |
| Leans Conservative | 104 (64.2) | 1.0 | 49 (30.3) | 1.0 | 67 (41.4) | 1.0 | 47 (29.0) | 1.0 |
| Global Warming Question | ||||||||
| Most scientists think global warming is happening. | 545 (74.4) | -- | 476 (65.0) | 2.7 (2.0–3.9) | 305 (41.6) | 1.3 (0.9–2.0) | 313 (42.7) | 1.6 (1.0–2.4) |
| There is a lot of disagreement as to whether global warming is happening. | 192 (64.9) | -- | 92 (31.1) | 1.0 | 115 (38.9) | 1.0 | 97 (32.8) | 1.0 |
| Vaccine Question | ||||||||
| I trust that the government makes the best decisions when it comes to vaccination requirements. | 449 (72.3) | -- | 304 (49.0) | 0.4 (0.3–0.5) | 289 (46.5) | 1.7 (1.2–2.5) | 224 (36.1) | 1.0 (0.7–1.5) |
| I do not trust the government to make decisions about what vaccinations are required. | 288 (70.6) | -- | 264 (64.7) | 1.0 | 131 (32.1) | 1.0 | 186 (45.6) | 1.0 |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Female | 410 (75.8) | 1.5 (1.1–2.0) | 324 (60.0) | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) | 202 (37.3) | 1.3 (0.9–2.0) | 252(46.6) | 2.2 (1.5–3.2) |
| Male | 328 (67.0) | 1.0 | 245 (50.1) | 1.0 | 218 (44.6) | 1.0 | 159(32.5) | 1.0 |
| Race | ||||||||
| White | 361 (71.5) | 1.0 | 243 (48.1) | -- | 224 (44.4) | 1.0 | 196 (38.8) | 1.0 |
| Black | 189 (78.4) | 1.1 (0.8–1.7) | 154 (63.9) | -- | 91 (37.8) | 0.7 (0.4–1.2) | 109 (45.2) | 0.8 (0.5–1.3) |
| Hispanic | 84 (68.3) | 0.7 (0.5–1.2) | 68 (55.3) | -- | 45 (36.6) | 0.4 (0.3–0.8) | 47 (38.2) | 0.5 (0.3–0.8) |
| Asian | 81 (63.8) | 0.5 (0.3–0.8) | 84 (66.1) | -- | 47 (37.0) | 0.4 (0.2–0.6) | 48 (37.8) | 0.4 (0.2–0.6) |
| Other | 23 (67.7) | 0.7 (0.3–1.6) | 20 (58.8) | -- | 13 (38.2) | 0.4 (0.2–1.2) | 11 (32.4) | 0.4 (0.2–1.1) |
a. Reference group: …Too much media coverage
b. Reference group: …Done the right amount/done too much in response to COVID-19
c. Reference group: …Overreactive to COVID-19
d. Political Ideology calculated using the 10-item Political Polarization in the American Public Survey [11]
e. News Score Bias were calculated using the Ad Fontes Media’s source evaluation and was averaged for each respondent [16]