In a concerning revelation, a new report has found that individuals with populist beliefs are more susceptible to misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. The report, authored by members of the PANCOPOP project team led by Professor Sabina Mihelj, draws on ongoing research on pandemic communication in populist environments.
The study surveyed 5,000 people across four countries, the United States, Brazil, Poland, and Serbia,- and uncovered alarming findings. Over 40% of the respondents believed that COVID-19 vaccines are experimental, and their health risks are not known. Additionally, more than a third of the participants believed that the official numbers of COVID-19 deaths have been grossly exaggerated.
One of the key takeaways from the report is the increased level of acceptance of false and misleading statements about COVID-19 among members of the public holding populist beliefs or voting for populist politicians. This trend was observed across all four countries, with populist voters in Poland and Serbia also exhibiting a higher likelihood of believing in misinformation, albeit to a lesser degree than their counterparts in Brazil and the United States.
Professor Sabina Mihelj, from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, explained the underlying dynamics: "Populism can also be an ideology which generally makes people more gullible to falsehoods and rumours, independently from how populist leaders behave. Polish and Serbian populist leaders did not actively promote COVID-19 misinformation and, at least at the start of the pandemic, supported preventive measures recommended by public health authorities and experts. Nevertheless, populist voters in Poland and Serbia were more likely to believe in more false statements, albeit to a lesser degree than Brazilian and American populist voters."
The report also highlighted other concerning findings, such as the belief that COVID-19 was purposefully created in a lab (37%), that face masks can make people ill (27%), and that the U.S. military is behind the creation of the virus (14%). Additionally, a significant proportion of respondents believed that COVID-19 vaccines can change people's DNA (17%) and that they contain microchips (12%).
In response to these alarming trends, the report has provided a series of recommendations directed towards three main groups involved in health crisis communication: public health authorities and government officials, media regulators and policymakers, and news organizations and journalists.
For public health authorities and government officials, the emphasis is on anticipating the politicization of health threats and preventative measures, ensuring transparency and autonomy of specialized health agencies, avoiding top-down styles of communication, and fostering multipartisan dialogue in decision-making. The report also suggests the development of integrated, multi-stakeholder strategies to combat health misinformation.
Media regulators and policymakers are urged to bolster freedom of information protections, challenge political interference, and support media literacy initiatives. They are also advised to proactively support the media in health emergencies, such as by prioritizing complaints about health topics.
News organizations and journalists are encouraged to openly challenge any crisis measures that may interfere with public access to information, improve internal governance to guard against political influence, and engage in regular fact-checking of health information from all sources, including political elites, medical professionals, and celebrities.
The findings of this report underscore the urgent need to address the growing problem of health misinformation, particularly in the context of populist political environments. By implementing the recommended strategies, policymakers, media organizations, and public health authorities can work to combat the spread of false and misleading information and ensure that the public has access to accurate and reliable health information during times of crisis.
