Many governments have implemented social distancing and lockdown measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Using province-level geolocation data from Italy, we document that political disbelief can limit government policy effectiveness. Residents in provinces leaning towards extreme right-wing parties show lower rates of compliance with social distancing order. We also find that, during the Italian lockdown, provinces with high protest votes virtually disregarded all social distancing orders. On the contrary, in provinces with higher political support for the current political legislation, we found a higher degree of social distancing compliance. These results are robust to controlling for other factors, including time, geography, local COVID-19 cases and deaths, healthcare hospital beds, and other sociodemographic and economic characteristics. Our research shows that bipartisan support and national responsibility are essential to implement and manage social distancing efficiently. From a broader perspective, our findings suggest that partisan politics and discontent with the political class (i.e., protest voting) might significantly affect human health and the economy.

许多政府已实施社会疏远和封锁措施，以遏制新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）的传播。使用来自意大利的省级地理定位数据，我们记录了政治上的怀疑会限制政府政策的有效性。倾向于极右翼政党的省份的居民对社交距离命令的遵守率较低。我们还发现，在意大利封锁期间，抗议票数较高的省份实际上无视所有社交距离命令。相反，在对现行政治立法有较高政治支持的省份，我们发现社会距离遵守程度较高。这些结果对于控制其他因素是稳健的，包括时间、地理位置、当地 COVID-19 病例和死亡、医疗保健病床以及其他社会人口和经济特征。我们的研究表明，两党的支持和国家责任对于有效实施和管理社交距离至关重要。从更广泛的角度来看，我们的研究结果表明，党派政治和对政治阶层的不满（即抗议投票）可能会严重影响人类健康和经济。