Public support for government responses against COVID-19: assessing levels and predictors in eight Western democracies during 2020

Abstract

In order to halt the spread of COVID-19 governments have engaged in policies that are both economically costly and involve infringements of individual rights. In democratic countries, these policy responses have elicited significant debate but little is known about the extent to which the responses are supported or opposed by the broader public. This article investigates how citizens across eight Western democracies evaluate the specific policies imposed by their governments to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The study relies on large-scale, longitudinal surveys that are reflective of the national populations (total N = 124,062). On this basis, it is investigated how pandemic-specific and broader political attitudes correlate with support for government responses during a significant part of 2020, a period marked by pandemic restrictions in all the countries. Medium to high levels of support for the government's responses are found in all eight countries. Beyond the regular voters of the government, support is driven by individuals high in interpersonal trust and self-assessed knowledge about COVID-19. This may suggest that halting the spread of COVID-19 is viewed as a collective action problem and mobilises support from those who know how to act and who trust others to act similarly.

Uncooperative society, uncooperative politics or both? Trust, polarization, populism and COVID‐19 deaths across European regions

“…If social trust is high, governments can rely on first‐best solutions that have low enforcement costs – such as recommending social distancing and hand washing, and asking citizens not to visit the elderly, and limit their travel – but those, as a downside, have a large risk of defection (Harring et al., 2021 ). Indeed, individuals with high levels of interpersonal trust exhibit higher support for the government's responses to the pandemic in a study of eight Western democracies (Jørgensen et al., 2021 ). Yet, if people do not follow the recommendations not to socialize or to keep physical distance, as happened in Italy and Spain during the first week of the pandemic, then these governments need to take very tough measures, such as curfews (Oksanen et al., 2020 ).…”

Centralized,Leadership, Ministerial Dominance, and Improvised Instruments: The Governance of COVID in Finland

“…Overall, the public has remained supportive of both the government and the lockdown measures. From a comparative perspective, Finns trust their leaders and political institutions with interpersonal trust also high, and such trust is associated with positive evaluations of government performance during COVID (Altiparmakis et al, 2021Jørgensen et al, 2021.…”

Afterword: Coping through crisis with coronamusic

“…Public figures such as the Danish prime minister capitalized upon music's pandemic popularity and may even have benefitted from it when soliciting support for difficult political decisions. It seems relevant to speculate whether music-induced social cohesion could have played a causal role in the high compliance rates and test willingness in Denmark (Jørgensen et al 2021). By funding a research project on a related topic, The Independent Research Fund Denmark indeed acknowledged the potential of music-based, virtual rituals in everyday coping behaviour (Baunvig 2020).…”