Citizens in 23 countries are largely dissatisfied with their governments’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with Western governments faring worse than their Eastern counterparts, in response to the outcomes of a first-of-its-kind global survey.
Jointly conducted by Singapore’s leading social research agency Blackbox Research and international online panel specialist Toluna, the study Toluna-Blackbox Index on perceptions of the worldwide crisis measured citizen sentiment from 23 countries towards their national Covid-19 crisis management efforts. This is assessed against 4 key performance indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media.
With an index rating of 85, China is at the highest of the index, with most residents viewing its performance positively on all 4 indicators. Vietnam took second place (77), followed by the United Arab Emirates and India (59). However, New Zealand (56) is the one Western country with an index rating higher than the worldwide average of 45, indicating that residents of Western countries are generally less satisfied with their countries’ performance.
The United States (US), Australia, in addition to all 4 Western European countries – Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and France – were rated below the worldwide average, with France having the bottom rating within the region and the second lowest globally on 26.
At the opposite end of the index is Japan with a rating of 16, driven by its perceived poor political performance and business leadership, in addition to poor community performance. Just behind France, countries like Hong Kong (27) and Korea (31) also fared poorly with their residents.
David Black, founder and chief executive of Blackbox Research, said the index’s performance reflected the realities facing countries as they faced the crisis. He added: “Overall, most countries are failing to satisfy the expectations of their residents. The Chinese are extremely satisfied, which will be attributed to the incontrovertible fact that, within the face of the worldwide epidemic, they’re already within the phase of economic recovery after Covid-19, which gave the sensation that China has coped well with the crisis.
“We also see serious cracks in self-confidence across the Western world. The exception amongst these is New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s leadership in effectively limiting the spread of Covid-19 has led to a positive assessment of the country’s performance within the crisis.
More on this topic on this link –> https://blackbox.com.sg/everyone/2020/05/06/most-countries-covid-19-responses-rated-poorly-by-own-citizens-in-first-of-its-kind-global- questionnaire
About the survey
Blackbox Research and Toluna conducted an internet, nationally representative survey of n=12,592 people in 23 countries aged 18 to 80. To ensure representativeness, quotas were used for gender, age and socio-economic criteria, including education and household type. The margin of statistical error of the study is 3–6%. The study was conducted between April 3 and 19. Fieldwork continued throughout April, starting first in Asia and ending in Iran.
