US Politics Has a Post-Covid Hangover
The divides and realignments of today trace back to the pandemic, which affected different groups in starkly different ways.
Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away.
Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty ImagesFive years ago, the world began grappling with the Covid pandemic, a crisis that led to millions of deaths, a global economic slowdown, frayed family and community bonds and a level of mistrust and division that still informs our politics. President Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020 was directly related to his handling of the pandemic — but at the same time, his reelection isn’t unrelated to the pandemic years. Covid’s social divides enforced and widened our political divides, stoking the mistrust and anger that fueled his comeback.
According to a new Pew Research Center poll of almost 10,000 Americans, 72% of US adults say the pandemic did more to drive the country apart than to bring it together. That’s one of the few points of agreement among the majority of Americans, who experienced the pandemic in different ways, based on race, class, age and political party. A majority of Republicans (62%) think there should have been fewer restrictions. A majority of Democrats (59%) think the restrictions were just about right.