Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Clark, April

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Political Science

Abstract

Over 350,000 Americans died from COVID-19 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Federal health institutions such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Human Health Services (DHHS) established guidelines for the public to follow during the pandemic. However, trust in these institutions varied resulting in differing public response —some followed the COVID protocols while others did not. It has been argued that when someone’s self-interest is at risk, they need to trust the government to take care of them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when public health and self-interest were intertwined, governmental trust became an important predictor of support for the COVID guidelines recommended by the CDC and DHHS. So, what accounts for the lack of trust in federal health institutions that influenced compliance to COVID-related preventive measures, even when the success of public health policies and regulations is critical to people’s health? Cues from the elite and the news can have an impact on trust in the government. This work examines the relationship between news sources and state and federal health institutions and finds that over the first year of the pandemic, there was a general increase in trust in these institutions.

Extent

56 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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