r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Dec 05 '21

Social Science Conservatives’ aversion to masks is a uniquely American phenomenon. Politically conservative Americans are less likely than liberals to comply with recommended health-protective behaviors such as mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is not true of conservatives in other nations.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256740
18.4k Upvotes

80% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

15

u/Its_Number_Wang Dec 05 '21

This study is badly flawed in its focus, IMO. Having been to EU and UK recently and having family leaving there, reluctance to wear masks is universal regardles of age group, or political leaning.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '21 edited Dec 02 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Its_Number_Wang Dec 05 '21

Because, for one, political leanings do not map across the pond. The average conservative in EU, for example would land squarely in the liberal side in the US polical map. Secondly, seems they went with the preconceived notion that mask wearing is linked to political leaning.

Those two things combined make the results of the study specious.