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Political Polarization Drives Online Conversations About COVID ‐19 in the United States
June 18 2020
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Abstract
Since the outbreak in China in late 2019, the novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) has spread
around the world and has come to dominate online conversations. By linking 2.3 million
Twitter users to locations within the United States, we study in aggregate how political
characteristics of the locations affect the evolution of online discussions about
COVID‐19. We show that COVID‐19 chatter in the US is largely shaped by political polarization.
Partisanship correlates with sentiment toward government measures and the tendency
to share health and prevention messaging. Cross‐ideological interactions are modulated
by user segregation and polarized network structure. We also observe a correlation
between user engagement with topics related to public health and the varying impact
of the disease outbreak in different US states. These findings may help inform policies
both online and offline. Decision‐makers may calibrate their use of online platforms
to measure the effectiveness of public health campaigns, and to monitor the reception
of national and state‐level policies, by tracking in real‐time discussions in a highly
polarized social media ecosystem.