Research has demonstrated that situational factors such as perceived threats to the social order activate latent authoritarianism. The deadly COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare opportunity to test whether existential threat stemming from an indiscriminate virus moderates the relationship between authoritarianism and political attitudes toward the nation and out-groups. Using data from two large nationally representative samples of adults in the United Kingdom (N = 2,025) and Republic of Ireland (N = 1,041) collected during the initial phases of strict lockdown measures in both countries, we find that the associations between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and (1) nationalism and (2) anti-immigrant attitudes are conditional on levels of perceived threat. As anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic increases, so too does the effect of RWA on those political outcomes. Thus, it appears that existential threats to humanity from the COVID-19 pandemic moderate expressions of authoritarianism in society.

研究表明，诸如对社会秩序的威胁之类的情境因素激活了潜在的威权主义。致命的COVID-19大流行病提供了一个难得的机会，可以测试由不加选择的病毒引起的生存威胁是否减轻了威权主义与对国家和外来群体的政治态度之间的关系。使用来自英国（N = 2,025）和爱尔兰共和国（N两国在严格锁定措施的初始阶段收集了1,041个），我们发现右翼威权主义（RWA）与（1）民族主义和（2）反移民态度之间的联系取决于感知到的威胁程度。随着人们对COVID-19大流行的担忧增加，RWA对这些政治结果的影响也越来越大。因此，似乎COVID-19大流行中的威权主义社会表达对人类存在着威胁。