Learning through Infection: The Dynamics of Public Opinion on COVID-19 Policies in China

• In Event: Public Policy Attitudes

Abstract

Understanding citizen compliance in rapidly evolving policy environment is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of public health strategies, especially in scenarios like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the dynamics of public opinion regarding the shift from zero-COVID policy to live-with-COVID policy, utilizing a two-wave panel survey conducted in August 2022 and January 2023 in China. We find substantial support for zero-COVID initially (79.42%), which persisted significantly (45.73%) after policy relaxation. Sociodemographic factors demonstrated limited impact on policy support, with the exception of iOS users. Moreover, individuals’ attitudes toward policies are associated with their perceived cost and benefit of COVID policies. This indicates that people are actively assessing the impact of each policy on their personal lives rather than passively accepting government directives, and this also nullifies the self-sensor hypothesis. Additionally, the correlation between the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and support for the zero-COVID policy highlights the impact of personal experience on public opinion. These results reveal the heterogeneous preferences towards zero-COVID policies in China.

Author

• Xing Chen, Fudan University