Although collective efforts are essential to fight COVID-19, public opinion in the United States is sharply divided by partisan attitudes and health beliefs. Addressing the concern that media use facilitates polarization, this study investigated whether social and traditional media use for COVID-19 information attenuates or reinforces existing disparities. This article focuses on two important areas where the public is highly polarized: partisan affect and vaccine attitudes. Contradicting the filter bubble claim, our survey (n = 1106) revealed that social media use made people less polarized in both partisan affect and vaccine hesitancy. In contrast, traditional media use made people more polarized in partisan affect. These findings corroborate the growing evidence that social media provide diverse viewpoints and incidental learning.

尽管集体努力对于抗击 COVID-19 至关重要，但美国的公众舆论因党派态度和健康信仰而严重分歧。针对媒体使用助长两极分化的担忧，本研究调查了社交媒体和传统媒体对 COVID-19 信息的使用是否会减弱或加强现有的差异。本文重点关注公众高度两极分化的两个重要领域：党派影响和疫苗态度。与过滤气泡的说法相矛盾，我们的调查 ( n = 1106) 透露，社交媒体的使用使人们在党派影响和疫苗犹豫方面的两极分化减少。相比之下，传统媒体的使用使人们的党派影响更加两极分化。这些发现证实了越来越多的证据表明社交媒体提供了不同的观点和偶然的学习。