Ideology and policy decision-making in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic in the USA

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge for the health systems of many countries. In the USA, COVID-19 accentuated political polarity. On the one hand, the defenders of more severe public health measures and, on the other, the advocates of individual rights and freedom above any other consideration. In this study, we analyse whether political partisanship and the political ideology of the different states of the USA have influenced the way COVID-19 was handled in the outbreak. Specifically, we analyse whether the ideology of each state affected the decrease in NO2 levels (used as a proxy for local economic activity and traffic) observed after the pandemic outbreak.