R&I – FS
As COVID-19 upended societal norms when it swept through the United States in 2020, a second pandemic—or “infodemic”—was also on the rise. An analysis of Twitter users by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and University of Texas, Austin, suggests that Republican-identifying people who believe their local government has positive intentions are vulnerable to believing politically fueled COVID-19 misinformation. The study did not find the same trend among Democrat-identifying Twitter users.
The article, published in JMIR Infodemiology in February 2022, aims to shed light on the cognitive processes that determine the relationship between partisanship and health misinformation, researchers said. The findings can help state and local health officials improve COVID-19–related messaging in the future, the researchers added.
Our research shows that public health officials can be most successful with their appeals to the public by taking into account pre-existing political views and testing what will or won’t resonate with their constituents because of this.
Mariam