COVID-19 Lock-Down Policy Experiences, Cultures, and Political Support in China

• In Event: Health Policy Feedback

Abstract

Policy feedback effects are conditioned by political predispositions, but the paths and mechanisms by which these conditioned effects occur need to be better understood. Analyzing four waves of Chinese survey panel data, we show that personal experiences with COVID-19 lock-down style policies influence attitudes toward both policies and governments. Specifically, we found that personal experience with lock-down policies, especially centralized quarantine, decreased policy support and trust in government but such negative effects were ameliorated for people who perceived a higher level of health risk from COVID-19. Moreover, personal experience with quarantine policies made them think that COVID-19 policies should maximize individual freedom or economic development rather than public health. By rerunning all models across four cultures proposed by Cultural Theory, we found that the negative effects of lock-down policies and its effects on normative cognition are more pronounced among individualists than hierarchists. However, the ameliorated negative effects of lock-down policies for people who perceived a higher level of health risk from COVID-19 exist across cultures.

Authors

• Meng Yuan, Chongqing University

• Brendon Swedlow, Northern Illinois University