Do Left-Wingers Discriminate? A Cross-Country Study on the Links Between Political Orientation, Values, Moral Foundations, and the Covid-19 Passport

To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has unintended consequences in discriminating against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons or do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across the USA, Brazil, the UK, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, who are typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, are more in favor of the passport and perceive it to be less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, which independently predict attitudes towards the passport. Overall, our findings provide novel insights into the conditions under which left-wingers support measures that can directly and presumably involuntarily discriminate against those they usually hold favorable views.