Keep the peace? The early politics of Covid-19 and the limits of partisan influence on public opinion

Crises often call for swift and far-reaching government action that depends on broad public acceptance to be effective. While political disagreement is commonly seen as undermining support, its actual impact on public attitudes remains contested. This study examines public opinion during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany – a context that shifted from early cross-party unity to later politicization. Combining original media data on partisan messaging and panel survey data from 2020, we assess how the emergence of partisan criticism shaped public acceptance of pandemic response policies. Although increasing partisan politicization was associated with declining public acceptance of pandemic measures, we find no evidence that this relationship was driven by partisan cue-taking. Instead, citizens adjusted their party preferences rather than their policy views in response to disagreement with their preferred party. These findings highlight the limits of partisan persuasion, and the growing importance of citizens’ own evaluations as elite consensus erodes.