Race, Ethnicity and Politics Workshop: Vanessa Cruz Nichols (Indiana University)

April 7, -
Speaker(s): Vanessa Cruz Nichols
Title: Beyond Red and Blue Lines: Survival Skepticism, COVID-19 and the 2020 Election

Summary: COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in communities of color in the United States. The pandemic has exacerbated cracks within our healthcare system, political infrastructures and various economic sectors. Despite having more to lose in the pandemic's mishandling and occupying the majority of the essential workforce during the crisis, how can we explain COVID-19 skepticism among Latinxs, one of the hardest hit communities? Did Trump's handling of the pandemic impact vote preferences in the 2020 election? Though Latinos still voted for Biden at a 2:1 ratio, they are a group for whom partisan loyalties do not run deep. In fact, the plurality of Latinos identify as non-partisan. Given the lack of partisan attachment, it is important to note the role of religiosity within the Latinx community to better understand the vote in 2020 and more complex opinions about COVID-19. Based on existing cognitive and affective research on threat appraisals, this paper also introduces the concept of "survival skepticism" as it relates to COVID-19 risk perceptions. This project leverages data from a sample of Latinx adults from the 2020 American National Election Study (n=786) as well as a survey experiment testing the effect of crisis framing strategies.
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Political Science

 Race, Ethnicity and Politics Workshop: Vanessa Cruz Nichols (Indiana University)

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