US VERSUS THEM: EXPLAINING COVID-19 PROTESTS IN THE US

Abstract

One of the most perplexing phenomena that took place during the global COVID-19 pandemic is the increased number of protests and demonstrations, with the United States leading the world in the number of protests in 2020. Drawing on relative deprivation and social identity theories, this thesis examines the impact of policy stringency, income inequality, and political polarization on the likelihood of COVID-19 protests in the US. The empirical analysis combined county-month observation data on protests between March 12, 2020, to March 13, 2021. The results indicate that (a) both strict policies and income inequality were instrumental in driving not only COVID-19 protests but other protest movements like Black Lives Matter and Trump protests; (b) higher income inequality dampens the effect of strict policies on protests; (c) the interaction between mean grievances and grievance polarization is not statistically significant, albeit moving in the expected direction; (d) increase in the Democrat voter population is consistently positively associated with the protests; (e) only predominantly Republican populations tend to protest strict containment policies against the Democrat governor suggesting asymmetrical political polarization. Findings contribute to the literature on impact of the COVID-19, theories of collective action, and the phenomena of political polarization in the US.