"All in This Together?" Tracking the Polarization of Discourse on COVID-19 in Manitoba

When COVID-19 struck, "We're all in this together" became a rallying cry; yet, during the pandemic, public discourse became irreparably polarized. To understand this reversal, our qualitative study examines the deployment and public reception of the "all in this together" (AITT) discourse in Manitoba, Canada. We applied discourse analysis, informed by social identity theory, to 12 news articles and their associated online comments, representing key moments in the pandemic. Sampling continued to the point of data saturation. Two independent coders identified discourses of unity and intragroup/intergroup division and then interpreted findings jointly. Data included 581 extracts: 70 journalist statements, 99 quotations, and 412 (168 Pro-public health measures, 134 Anti) comments. Though used extensively by political and public health leaders, AITT showed minimal uptake by commenters. However, many Pro commenters reproduced the discourse of deviance (i.e., disparagement of nonconforming in-group members), which the premier had introduced early on. Anti commenters resisted this discourse by recasting themselves as victims of unjust authorities, denying their deviance, or reframing it as positive. They also portrayed public health restrictions as responsible for intergroup strife. AITT seemed not to resonate with the public, at least for long, and was quickly overwhelmed by discourses of intra- and intergroup conflict. Given its implied emphasis on conformity, it may have contained the seeds of its own demise. Constructions of a unitary identity may be too fragile to weather a protracted threat. In the future, leaders might consider working through subgroup identities by building bridges with groups who may feel excluded.