Voluntary physical distancing is essential for preventing the spread of COVID-19. We assessed the role of political partisanship in individuals’ compliance with physical distancing recommendations of political leaders using data on mobility from a sample of mobile phones in 3,100 counties in the United States during March 2020, county-level partisan preferences, information about the political affiliation of state governors, and the timing of their communications about COVID-19 prevention. Regression analyses examined how political preferences influenced the association between governors’ COVID-19 communications and residents’ mobility patterns. Governors’ recommendations for residents to stay at home preceded stay-at-home orders and led to a significant reduction in mobility that was comparable to the effect of the orders themselves. Effects were larger in Democratic- than in Republican-leaning counties, a pattern more pronounced under Republican governors. Democratic-leaning counties also responded more strongly to recommendations from Republican than from Democratic governors. Political partisanship influences citizens’ decisions to voluntarily engage in physical distancing in response to communications by their governor.

自愿进行物理疏远对于防止COVID-19扩散至关重要。我们使用2020年3月美国3,100个县的移动电话样本中的流动性数据，县级党派偏好，有关政治隶属关系的信息，评估了政治党派在个人遵守政治领导人的身体疏远建议中的作用。州长的身份，以及他们关于COVID-19预防的沟通时间。回归分析检查了政治偏好如何影响州长的COVID-19通信与居民的出行方式之间的联系。州长关于居民留在家中的建议先于在家定购令，导致流动性显着下降，这与定购令本身的影响相当。与共和党倾向的县相比，民主政体的影响更大，在共和党州长的领导下这种模式更为明显。倾向于民主的县对共和党的建议的反应也比对民主州长的建议反应强烈。政治党派关系影响公民决定响应州长的沟通而自愿进行身体疏远。