ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1581798
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Strategies for Urban Public Health Resilience in Crisis SituationsView all 19 articles
Political Orientation and COVID-19 Policy Preferences During the Early Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis of China and South Korea
Provisionally accepted
- Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to governments and societies worldwide, highlighting the complex relationship between state policies and public acceptance during crises. This study examines how regime types, political tendencies, and social culture influence citizen's preferences for epidemic prevention policies in China and South Korea.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional online survey was operated in May 2020 to citizens aged ≥ 20 years in China and South Korea. Using the stratified quota sampling method, This study collected 2,254 valid responses from China and 1,783 from South Korea. Moderated mediation effect analysis were conducted to explore the factors shaping public attitudes toward epidemic control measures.Results: There are clear differences in policy preferences between the two countries. Chinese citizens were more likely to support strict, government-led measures, while South Korean respondents showed lower levels of support. Political tendency was the strongest predictor of policy preferences in both countries, with those favoring greater government authority more likely to support strict epidemic control measures. While government satisfaction significantly influenced policy acceptance in China, its impact was minimal in South Korea. Additionally, collectivism moderated the relationship between political tendency and policy preferences. In highly collectivist environments, social norms reinforced support for control measures, while in more individualist contexts, personal political beliefs had a stronger influence on policy acceptance.This study provides important evidence that citizen preferences for epidemic prevention are shaped by complex interaction between political institutions, cultural values, and individual beliefs. Theses findings can inform more effective communication strategies and policy design when governments prepare for future pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19, China, South Korea, Epidemic prevention policies, policy preferences, Political tendencies
Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 ZHOU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: FANG ZHOU, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
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