Question

Achen and Bartels argue that the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic didn’t really affect the 1918 US election because there was no social consensus about how bad the epidemic was or who’s fault it was. Are either of these conditions present today, especially in the USA? Does the theory of Achen and Bartels tell us anything about the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic?

to answer this question, I feel that both of the conditions mentioned by Achen and Bartel may not be as relevant when speaking on the COVID-19 pandemic. With the rise of social media and public documentation of various crisis', it seems that people are aware of just how bad this problem is. While there are bound to be people who are ignorant of the facts and statistics surrounding COVID, for the most part, I feel the public has been aware and responded according to how severe of a problem it really is. The other condition seems to be answered as well to some extent, given that the cases originated in China and have been linked to various areas and possible means of spreading. What's interesting is to consider it's effect on the American election taking place this year. While a large number of people would argue that the response from the Republican party to the COVID pandemic has been sub-par, there are others that may take Donald Trump's apparent disdain for China as a sign of strength, a political battle cry, if you will. It's still a few months until we will really see the effects of the pandemic on this election, but I'm certain that for the most part, this pandemic has been mostly negative for the ruling party, in contrast to Canada where I feel that support for the Liberal government has grown as a result of their response to the pandemic.

give feedback to this answer.

Answer 1

There is a social consensus about how bad Covid-19 pandemic is and how its creating havoc generally across the world and particularly in the US. Said that most of the people are conscious about the happenings around. Social media presents an important tool to get to know the truth which would have been otherwise impossible. The communication which has been highly developed and globalized over the decades has let people to dig more closed to the truth and get revealed who and how is someone at fault. Although conditions that were present during 1918 flu are present in some of the Asian countries like India however, this is not true in case of US. There are some people who may not have the right information or who may chose political loyality while ignoring the facts. The theory of Achen and Bartels are relevant to 2020 Covid-19 pandemic regarding the argument that presidents will be rewarded or punished by the voters for changes over a related short period of time in the election-year economy no matter how these changes may have happened. Lastly, the current president had a bad execution of plans, first he chose to play down with the illness and secondly, this down playing led him to be ill prepared which is going to cost him the most. US economy in recession and the growing preception that China has taken the world leadership may play a great role in the upcomming elections.