Among white Americans, therefore, Democrats experienced a substantially greater increase in distress in response to the pandemic than Republicans

Distressed Democrats and relaxed Republicans? Partisanship and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sean Bock, Landon Schnabel. PLoS April 21, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266562

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic was a potent stressor, yielding unprecedented levels of mental distress. However, public health responses and personal reactions to the pandemic were politically polarized, with Democrats highlighting and Republicans downplaying its severity. Did Republicans subsequently experience as much mental distress as Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic? This study examines partisan patterns in mental health outcomes at three time points throughout the pandemic. Results demonstrate a clear partisan distress gap, with Democrats consistently reporting worse mental health than Republicans. Trend data suggest that the 2020 pandemic patterns are a continuation and exacerbation of an existing partisan distress gap. Consideration of race, however, demonstrates a widening partisan distress gap, specific to white Americans. Among white Americans, therefore, Democrats experienced a substantially greater increase in distress in response to the pandemic than Republicans.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a powerful stressor, leading to increased distress among Americans. Distress during the pandemic was politically polarized, however, such that Democrats reported consistently higher distress levels compared to Republicans, suggesting a clear partisan distress gap. This gap did not simply emerge as a result of the pandemic, but rather reflects a pre-existing partisan distress gap. Yet, marked intra-party variation in experiences with the pandemic results in a more nuanced story: White Democrats experienced the largest increase in distress along several measures from the pandemic, which produced a widening distress gap among white partisans. Further, over-time data show the pandemic accelerated a long-running trend of a closing of the racial happiness gap among Democrats. Whereas the partisan gap used to be disproportionately driven by the unhappiness of black Democrats, it is now driven primarily by the unhappiness of white Democrats. These patterns highlight the importance of race for trends in partisanship and polarization more generally.

The results point to several possible extensions. The data for this study are from the summer of 2020, before widespread vaccine roll out. As the pandemic wears on, we are experiencing a mental health crisis. Isolation, distress about the present, and uncertainty about the future—not to mention lost friends and family—are taking a toll. Partisan vaccine uptake further highlights the partisan nature of pandemic response, but it may have changed the equation in ways that should be examined in future research. With vaccines, Democrats may be able to regain some of the normalcy and connections they lost in isolation. And serious illness and death have become visibly partisan with the vaccines, and the greater loss experienced among Republicans, and perhaps eventual acceptance of COVID-19 as a real threat and the pandemic something to worry about, may fuel greater distress among them than in the past. Beyond the partisan nature of mental wellbeing in the pandemic, we hope this study will motivate future research on race (and ethnicity) in these processes more generally. These data were effective for highlighting race trends between black and white Americans over decades and future research should further disentangle racial and ethnic trends in partisanship and distress among and between more groups.