Credit: CC0 Public DomainVanderbilt's Latin American Public Opinion Lab discovered that the COVID-19 Pandemic in Haiti rallied support for the incumbent government, even though there was a weak public commitment to democracy and the administration. Noam Lupu (associate professor of political science, LAPOP associate director), and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister (Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor in Political Science, LAPOP director) co-authored the paper.LAPOP surveys also found that the most fundamental principle of democracyregular electionhas been slipping away. This shift could have led to a drop in support for democracy in countries like Haiti where corruption is high and the rule of law weak."The vast majority of research on public opinion related to the pandemic have focused on wealthy, developed democracies. We wanted to find out how a massive health crisis might impact attitudes in developing countries, such as Haiti. Lupu stated. "Our objective was to determine whether and how the COVID-19 crisiswould shift public opinion towards the president, elections, and democracy. Is the public going to war on the government? Does it support the executive like it is waging war against the government? Or does it kowtow to authority and authoritarian principles?The authors conducted a telephone survey among a representative sample of Haitians between April 23 and June 10, 2020. There were 2,028 respondents of voting age. The questionnaire asked half of the respondents 10 questions about their views on the pandemic, followed by a series of questions about various topics, including presidential approval, support for postponement of elections, tolerance for coups, and support of democracy. Half of respondents answered in reverse order and were asked the second set questions, before being asked 10 questions about pandemic.The researchers found that the first pandemic modestly increased responses that indicated presidential approval or intentions to vote for incumbent president. This shows that even in an unfavorable context, a rally effect can be observed. The researchers did not find any data to support the idea that the pandemic had eroded democratic attitudes in Haiti.Researchers also discovered evidence of an increase in deference to the executive's authority. This may be a result of rally dynamics. The overwhelming majority of Haitians answered yes to the question that the president should be allowed to delay elections in the event of a major crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. They were also more likely to answer the pandemic questions.Zechmeister stated that Rudy Giuliani (the former mayor of New York City), floated postponing the end of his term while enjoying approval after the terrorist attacks of September 11. We do not see any evidence that there has been a wider shift in democratic attitudes. Our data shows that Haitians support a democratic government has remained steady and that the pandemic did not seem to have increased the number of authoritarian attitudes. For those concerned that the pandemic could undermine democracy, our results are encouraging.Continue reading: Explore more How many emergency declarations were made during the first wave pandemic?More information: Noam L. Lupu et. al., The early COVID-19 epidemic and democratic attitudes. PLOS ONE (2021). Information from the Journal: PLoS One Noam Lupu and colleagues, The early COVID-19 Pandemic, and democratic Attitudes, (2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253485
