Polarization in the COVID-19 pandemic: The impact of vaccination status and conspiracy theories

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a new social identity through vaccination status and yielded substantial polarization between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Across two studies conducted via online platform Prolific, we examined the polarization between vaccinated and unvaccinated people in the United States. Study 1 (N = 646) revealed that vaccinated people were more polarized toward unvaccinated people than vice versa across a range of polarization indicators. Conspiracy beliefs moderated these effects. Higher conspiracy beliefs predicted increased polarization among unvaccinated people; however, lower conspiracy beliefs predicted increased polarization among vaccinated people. Study 2 (N = 503) focused specifically on feelings of hate and revealed that vaccinated and unvaccinated people were polarized toward different target groups. While vaccinated people expressed more hate toward unvaccinated people than vice versa, unvaccinated people expressed more hate toward the government. Additional analyses indicated that besides public health concerns, feelings of hate also predicted vaccinated people's support for excluding unvaccinated people from public places. These findings offer novel insight into the complex dynamics that help explain the polarization that occurred among both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.