A 2016 study by Cornell University said people who were more afraid of germs were more likely to vote Republican. I’d say the current COVID-19 situation proves the exact opposite.

Wordpress ^ | May 11, 2020 | Dan from Squirrel Hill

[grundle]

A 2016 study by Cornell University said people who were more afraid of germs were more likely to vote Republican. I’d say the current COVID-19 situation proves the exact opposite.

In 2016, the Los Angeles Times wrote:

A Cornell University team led by psychologists David Pizarro and Yoel Inbar conducted an online disgust-sensitivity survey of 25,000 Americans during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Respondents with the highest contagion-anxiety scores were the most likely to indicate that they would vote for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, the more conservative candidate, over Democrat Barack Obama.

However, with the current COVID-19 situation, it’s generally Democrats, not Republicans, who are more likely to want to continue with the lockdown. I hope that in the future, academic studies on this topic will be carried out.

I’m a libertarian, and I have written this other blog post: Here are 44 reasons why I’m against the COVID-19 lockdowns

 

[cuban leaf]

A 2016 study by Cornell University said people who were more afraid of germs were more likely to vote Republican. I’d say the current COVID-19 situation proves the exact opposite.

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Absofrickinlutely. The evidence is legion. Almost every single person I’ve sparred with in real life and on the internet that is afraid and thinks we need to obey the rules or we are “selfish, etc.” is on the left. And every person I’ve discussed this with that thinks it’s overblown is on the right.

Again, polls are bullchit.

[Lysandru]

For my money, the Wuhan Virus pandemic is a statistical outlier—Libtards are easier to stampede. It’s not so much an aversion to germs (look at how much they love Adam Schiff), it’s that their Overlords have them hoodwinked again.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

There is this theory going around about 'disgust'. The idea is that humans developed a sense of disgust in order to protect themselves from eating dangerous plants, eating rotten meat, exposing themselves to harmful things in the environment, etc. The theory goes on to say that conservatives are overly sensitive to disgust and overuse it in order to condemn homosexuality and other lifestyles that they find disgusting. So basically conservatives are stupid and backward for misusing their evolved sense of disgust to mislabel homos as disgusting.

My take is that maybe conservatives are more sensitive to disgusting things than liberals, and we well should be as homosexual lifestyles are truly disgusting and should be discouraged.

If liberals are more afraid of COVID it is not because germs disgust them more than conservatives. It is because COVID can be deadly, and liberals are more afraid of death than conservatives. To liberals, this is their one and only finite life and they don't want it to end soon. They're also not certain what awaits them afterward, or are certain that there is nothing and looking into a complete void is a rather scary thing.

[Vendome]

I don’t know any Republicans who fit this profile....

We eat germs for breakfast...

[Jewbacca]

I think the more likely reason is liberals are allergic to work and so like being shut down.

There is a high overlap between liberals and gold brick.

[chickenlips]

No the study is probably correct. Republicans, being sane, are aware of the danger of germs, but they generally understand life and reality. Leftists don’t mind germs, poverty and filth, but they live in fear of going to work.

[catnipman]

my personal experience mirrors yours: mindless leftists who believe every word from CNN and MSNBC are nearly incoherent with panic, while most of the folks i normally interact with (and most of these are in the “older” category like myself), believe the panic and lockdown are basically bullshit, and most of those also believe it’s turned into a deliberate effort to completely burn down our country simply to destroy Donald Trump ...

[DannyTN]

No you've just made COVID shut down a litmus test for what you think is conservative.

If someone thinks the shutdown was a good idea, or even a necessary evil, then you think they are on the left.

Trump however agreed with the shutdown and still believes as do I that it saved 1.5 million lives. But Trump also acknowledges that the cure can't be worse than the disease, and the lock down can't continue indefinitely.

It's a bad litmus test you have. It doesn't extend to other issues. And you've excluded about 75% of Republicans from your definition of "right".

"Similarly, the Navigator Research polling found that 51 percent of Republicans agreed that “we are currently doing the right thing when it comes to social distancing,” compared with 24 percent who favor more aggressive social distancing and just 21 percent who want fewer restrictions.1"

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

You are on record as refusing to do even the simplest things, to help prevent others from getting the CCP virus. You refuse to even attempt to physical distance. You refuse to push your cart the right way at the supermarket. You won’t wear a mask — and you are likely rude to store clerks who ask you to wear a mask to enter the premises.

It’s no mystery why people you “spar with” think you are selfish. That’s actually the politest term that fits. Conservatives understand personal responsibility and civic duties. What are you?

[x]

McCain was the old guy. Younger people voted for Obama. Older people are more afraid of getting sick - with good reason.

For the claim to have any meaning, they would have to compare people the same age, and maybe people in the same general state of health.

I didn't read the article, so I don't know if they did that.

[Okeydoker]

The guy is an idiot not worth debating.

[Okeydoker]

You didn’t miss much by not reading the article. It isn’t actually an article. It’s a comment by dan of stupid hill publishing his own paragraph from his Wordpress self published blog.

In other words it’s pretty much ego serving nonsense.

[rhinohunter]

Germophobia is only a minor factor in this panicdemic.

It’s mainly about group-think, virtue signalling, and fake news. All of which rat voters wallow in...

[tinyowl]

In a non-fake apocalypse context, rational people take what are called 'reasonable precautions'.

In a fake apocalypse, rational people take what are called 'reasonable precautions'

The approach is the same, and because irrational people under-react in the former and over-react in the latter, if you call 'precaution' 'fear', then you would think you were measuring a dichotomy, but you are measuring the same thing ... rational and practical precaution.

What you are proving in both case is that one group is more rational in both situations and takes the appropriate care for the situation.

[libertylover]

By “people afraid of germs” did they mean people who actually wash their hands after they poop?

[rlmorel]

That is one of the stupidest things I have ever read on FR.

I guess it is just part of another Leftist Big Lie.

[rlmorel]

Yep. I think you hit it on the head.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t people on the right who get bugged out by germs. Hell, Trump is a self-professed germophobe himself.

But we don’t just surrender to the fear. We try to think it though and do a risk vs. benefit analysis.

[tbw2]

Jordan Peterson ~ INSANE Correlation Between Prevalent of Infectious Diseases & Authoritarian Belief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO6VfFqvRkM

[Pollster1]

It depends on which germs. The globalist left has no fear of AIDS - they actually include many “bug chasers” who are excited by that risk. Normal, decent Americans are disgusted and a little afraid of AIDS. However, with Coronavirus, we reverse our positions. Since you get it without sex, the left is afraid. Since it’s such a low risk to healthy people, ethical people are far less scared.