Latest round-up of YouGov’s coronavirus survey results
Government approval
The popularity of the Indonesian government has bounced back since the previous survey. On 18 May 60% of Indonesians said their government was handling the crisis well, compared to 37% who said they were handling it badly (net +23). The next week however, these figures had become almost equal, with only 50% now backing the government’s approach compared to 47% who disapproved (net +3). As of the most recent survey the figures have reverted to type, with 57% saying the government is doing a good job and 39% saying a bad one (net +18).
Approval ratings in the UK and USA continue their decline. Only 41% of Britons say the government is managing the outbreak well, versus 56% who say it is mishandling it. This gives a net score of -15, down from -6 the week previously.
This means that domestically the British government are seen by the population to be handling the crisis less well than Americans think of their own government. The Trump administration’s response to the crisis currently generates a net score of -12, down from -7 the week before, with 41% of Americans saying the government is performing well compared to 53% who say it is performing poorly.
There has been a notable uptick in France, where the net score has risen from -22 last week to -9 this week, the highest it has been since March. Currently 42% of French people think the government is doing well compared to 51% who say it is doing badly.
Finland also saw a healthy improvement, from +54 to +64.
The Vietnamese government continues to enjoy the highest approval rating of any nation in the study, at +95, followed by Taiwan and Malaysia on +87.
National outbreak situation
The Indonesian government’s rapidly recovering approval figures doubtless follow the perception that things are getting better at home. Since the last survey the proportion of Indonesians believing the national COVID-19 situation is improving jumped 12 percentage points to 31%, although this still makes them the most negative country surveyed (just behind Malaysians on 32%).
The improved view of the French and Finnish governments similarly coincide with perceptions that the outbreaks are increasingly being defeated. In France this figure rose from 62% to 79%, and in Finland from 64% to 76%.
The two middle eastern countries covered by the study – Saudi Arabia and the UAE – also saw healthy improvements from 66% to 77% and 47% to 59% respectively.
Face masks
The UK continues to lag far behind most other countries when it comes to face mask usage. The figure reporting having done so remains unchanged on the previous week at 21%. The British government has recently announced that people on public transport will be required to wear face masks, so this figure may increase in coming weeks.
