COVID-19 Is Examining the EU and the Member States: The Role of Attitudes and Sociodemographic Factors on Citizens’ Support towards National Policies

Abstract

During March and April 2020, the European Union (EU) was the center of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many national governments imposed severe lockdown policies to mitigate the health crisis, but the citizens’ support to these policies was unknown. The aim of this paper was to analyze empirically how citizens in the EU have reacted towards the measures taken by the national governments. To this end, a microeconometric model (ordered probit) that explains the citizens’ satisfaction by a number of attitudes and sociodemographic factors was estimated using a wide database formed by 21,804 European citizens in 21 EU countries who responded a survey between 23 April and 1 May 2020. Our results revealed that Spaniards were the least satisfied citizens in comparison with Danes, Irelanders, Greeks, and Croats, who were the most satisfied nationals. The years of education and the social class also played a determinant role. We also found that the most important determinant was the political support to the government, and that those who were more worried by the economy and the protection of individual rights were usually more critical of the measures than those who were more worried by the health consequences.

Responses to COVID-19 Social and Economic Impacts: A Comparative Analysis in Southern European Countries

“…The current pandemic crisis will have more devastating effects than the economic and financial crisis of 2008 (Grasso et al 2021). The measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had a significant impact on economic activities, and policymakers could have used different ways to determine which measures to support their citizens (Martín and Román 2021a).…”

The Role of Economic Stress, Health Concerns, and Institutional Trust in Supporting Public Protests against COVID-19 Lockdown Measures in Denmark

“…Thus, a few previous studies have analyzed the public attitudes towards COVID-19 lockdown measures in the following countries: Malaysia and India [15], Italy [16], France [17], Spain [18], Greece [19], and a collection of EU countries [20]. In this literature, the following so-cioeconomic factors were found to be positively linked to accepting lockdown measures: being male and having a medical background [15], being a female [18], having a high education [17][18][19], having a high income [17,20], and being materially non-deprived [19]. Moreover, people who were concerned with their own health [18][19][20] and people with high trust in public institutions [16,19] were more likely to support the lockdown policies.…”

“…In this literature, the following so-cioeconomic factors were found to be positively linked to accepting lockdown measures: being male and having a medical background [15], being a female [18], having a high education [17][18][19], having a high income [17,20], and being materially non-deprived [19]. Moreover, people who were concerned with their own health [18][19][20] and people with high trust in public institutions [16,19] were more likely to support the lockdown policies. This branch of literature could be referred to as the 'satisfaction' literature.…”

Studying Satisfaction with the Restriction Measures Implemented in Greece during the First COVID-19 Pandemic Wave

“…In addition, satisfaction with both the information dissemination during the pandemic and the delivery of daily necessities and protection materials decreases significantly as the number of confirmed cases increases [23]. Thus, because satisfaction with policy responses is a function of the responses' effectiveness, it is not surprising that opinions regarding the costs and benefits of the restriction measures are also a predictor of satisfaction with such measures [24].…”