Multi-Wave 50-State COVID-19 Survey: Empowering a National Response

Political scientist Matthew Baum and his colleagues hypothesize that the COVID-19 pandemic will permanently change the trajectory of our social, economic, and political systems. They will conduct two additional monthly surveys in a series of state surveys conducted since April 2020 with previous NSF support. The January and March 2021 monthly waves will capture opinions, behaviors, and circumstances in the post-election period. The investigators will also merge Twitter data for about 15,000 survey respondents with survey data to examine information seeking, attitudes, and behaviors around COVID-19. The project has two objectives: 1) producing information for improving the national response to COVID-19; and 2) using COVID-19 data to understand how people, especially those in vulnerable communities, adapt to and make sense of a pandemic that has disrupted their daily lives. The investigators will assess differences over time within and between states, by geography, socioeconomic status, race, gender, and other dimensions. They will also evaluate the information needs and social barriers confronting different individuals and communities. They will also evaluate how variations in COVID-19 circumstances locally are associated with preferences, behaviors, and approval of local, state and federal government responses to the pandemic. For example, they can examine how spikes in the virus are associated with changes in the approval of governors and the President, or the extent to which attributions of blame are associated with partisanship. They can also evaluate the mismatch between public opinion and policy choices at the state level. Using variation over time of cases/deaths, policies, and preferences will allow them to disentangle mechanisms of democratic accountability.