This paper studies the causal effect of local exposure to COVID-19 on voting behaviour and electoral outcomes using evidence from the regional elections held in Spain on 12 July 2020. Exploiting the variation in exposure to COVID-19 and using a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we show that turnout was between 2.6 and 5.1 percentage points lower in municipalities that experienced positive cases of COVID-19. In addition, the results show a substantial increase in the probability of voting for nationalist parties. We discuss the idea of perceived fear being the potential mechanism driving our results.
CITATION STYLE
Fernandez-Navia, T., Polo-Muro, E., & Tercero-Lucas, D. (2021). Too afraid to vote? The effects of COVID-19 on voting behaviour. European Journal of Political Economy, 69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102012
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