Pandemic Politics

COVID-19 has killed more people than any war or public health crisis in American history, but the scale and grim human toll of the pandemic were not inevitable. Pandemic Politics examines how Donald Trump politicised COVID-19, shedding new light on how his administration tied the pandemic to the president's political fate in an election year and chose partisanship over public health, with disastrous consequences for all of us.

Health is not an inherently polarising issue, but the Trump administration's partisan response to COVID-19 led ordinary citizens to prioritise what was good for their "team" rather than what was good for their country. Democrats, in turn, viewed the crisis as evidence of Trump's indifference to public well-being. At a time when solidarity and bipartisan unity were sorely needed, Americans came to see the pandemic in partisan terms, adopting behaviours and attitudes that continue to divide us today.

This book draws on a wealth of new data on public opinion to show how pandemic politics has touched all aspects of our lives—from the economy to race and immigration—and puts America's COVID-19 response in global perspective.

An in-depth account of a uniquely American tragedy, Pandemic Politics reveals how the politicisation of the COVID-19 pandemic has profound and troubling implications for public health and the future of democracy itself.