Two new studies show that political affiliation had much more influence on Americans' decisions to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic than did the relative numbers of infections in their communities.Wide behavioral chasmsIn the first study, led by Vanderbilt University researchers and published Dec 12 in Science Advances, researchers randomly surveyed 1,135,638 Americans from Apr 4 to Sep 10 about their political affiliation and if they had participated in social activities that could hasten the spread of COVID-19, such as eating at a restaurant, visiting family or friends, or shopping for groceries in person.On average, 6,744 people responded to the survey each day.