A Crisis of Identity : National Identities’ Impact on Approval of Government Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract: In the face of ever-present crises, this thesis aims to investigate if national identity is a factor that can contribute to our understanding of why individuals have different opinions of government crisis response, focusing specifically on the COVID-19 pandemic as a most likely case for this. The research question is “Does national identity impact approval of government crisis response?” By using regression analysis to study national identities generally, as well as some subdivisions of national identity, the investigation finds an (albeit) weak relationship between having a strong national identity and approval of government response to the COVID- 19 pandemic. The central finding is that approval was generally higher among people with strong national identities, especially in the subgroup of uncritical patriots. This indicates that national identities may have a role to play in shaping government approval during crises.