'Shameful' And 'A Sign Of Weakness' – Why Right-Wingers Are 'Least Likely To Wear Face Masks'
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A study has found that people who identify as right-wing politically are more reluctant to wear face covers to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Researchers in the UK and US discovered that those who were more right-leaning were more likely to agree that wearing a covering is “not cool”, “shameful” and a “sign of weakness”.
It comes as people will need to wear a face covering in shopping centres, banks, takeaway outlets, sandwich shops and supermarkets under new regulations due to come into force in England on Friday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) now recommends face coverings in indoor spaces and when social distancing is not possible after updating earlier guidance.
The research - carried out by Dr Valerio Capraro, a senior lecturer in economics at Middlesex University, and Hélène Barcelo, from the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley, California – analysed people’s intention to wear face coverings.
In one study, subjects were asked about how likely they were to wear a face mask outside the home, engaging in social activities and with people from another household, and how they best best described their political views.
The survey of 2,459 people living in the US using the crowdsourcing website, Amazon Mechanical Turk, found that the average for left-leaning respondents’ intentions to wear a face covering was higher than right-leaning people.
After being asked if they would agree or disagree with the statements “wearing a mask is not cool”, “wearing a mask is a sign of weakness” and “wearing a mask is shameful”, they also found that right-leaning people were more likely to express negative emotions when wearing a mask.
A second study, which surveyed 1,920 people living in the US again using the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk, had the same outcome.
Dr Capraro said: “This study was...
