“I don’t vote because I don’t want to get infected.” Pandemic, polarization and public trust during the 2020 Presidential Election in Poland

Overlapping with the time of the presidential election in Poland, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reconfigured the electoral campaign in terms of the electoral law and campaign strategies. The lockdown limited the intensity of electoral campaign, shifted the focus to pandemic-related issues, and increased the electoral advantage of the incumbent President Duda, still performing his official duties during the campaign. At the same time, the election campaign contributed to a notable ‘presidentialisation’ of the government communication about the pandemic, something that impacted heavily on people’s reactions to the COVID-19 crisis and on their trust in government’s measures. Utilizing data from in-depth interviews and media diaries with 29 participants, this chapter examines audience engagement with different government communication channels, focusing on their relative effectiveness and on the impact of polarization.