Many government strategies to reduce the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) involved unprecedented restrictions on personal movement, disrupting social and economic norms Although generally well-received in Australia, community frustration regarding these restrictions appeared to diverge across political lines Therefore, we examined the unique effects of the ideological subfactors of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA;Aggression, Submission and Conventionalism) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO;Dominance and Anti-egalitarianism) in predicting perceived personal threat of COVID-19, and support for and reactance to government restrictions, in Australian residents across two separate samples (S1 N = 451, S2 N = 838) COVID-19 threat was positively predicted by Submission, and negatively by Conventionalism, and Anti-egalitarianism Support for restrictions was also positively predicted by Submission, and negatively by Conventionalism, Dominance, and Anti-egalitarianism Reactance to government restrictions was negatively predicted by Submission, and positively by Conventionalism, Dominance and Anti-egalitarianism These findings suggest that right-wing ideological subfactors contribute to the one’s perception of COVID-19 threat and government restrictions differentially
The Role of Ideological Attitudes in Responses to COVID-19 Threat and Government Restrictions in Australia