Vaccination readiness and political party preference in Germany: Trust, collective responsibility, and the populist radical right

Numerous studies in Western countries have linked vaccine hesitancy to populist political leanings. This study focused on Germany, where there has been considerable debate as to whether this hesitancy is common across the political spectrum, fueled equally by right and left populist extremes, or driven primarily by the populist radical right. The aim of this study was to determine whether and to what extent two specific aspects of vaccine readiness -- trust and collective responsibility -- correlate with political party preferences in Germany. Evidence from a large-scale survey of German citizens (n = 2,191) showed that even after adjusting for gender, age, and education level, several indicators of vaccine hesitancy were most pronounced among supporters of Germany's far-right populist party, the Alternative for Germany. Though these voters expressed a degree of vaccine readiness on some of the measures, they deviated significantly from all other voting groups in the direction of vaccine hesitancy on every measure. Green party voters expressed the strongest vaccine readiness, with the other major parties following close behind. The belief that the medical establishment profited excessively during the pandemic was prevalent across all parties. Taken together, these results suggest that political affiliations may play a sizeable role in views about vaccines. Results also affirm the importance that public trust and collective responsibility have for the realization of public health goals.