Michael Tesler, UCI associate professor of political science writes, “Why would Republicans be more concerned about Ebola than the coronavirus when the latter is obviously such a greater physical and economic threat? A lot of that can be explained by the power of partisan messages. Political science research has long shown that partisan messages have a big influence on public opinion. When party leaders take diverging positions on issues, the public usually follows their lead — especially on new and complex issues like the respective threats from Ebola and covid-19.”

For the full story, please visit https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/27/republicans-were-more-concerned-about-ebola-than-theyve-been-about-coronavirus-heres-why/.