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More than two-thirds of people in the US, UK and France think the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed their lives.
Only in Germany, at 52 percent, is the majority of the population of the opinion that their life has changed “not so much” or “not at all”.
This is one of the surprising results of a survey carried out by the renowned American polling institute Pew Research Center in these four countries.
A total of 4069 people in the four countries were asked how they rate government action under corona conditions, how the pandemic has affected their lives, what they think of government vaccination programs and how much trust they have in the state with a view to future health crises still enough.
The polls were conducted between November 10 and December 23 in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Compared to an earlier study, it shows that the longer the crisis lasts and the more people die from Corona, the less confidence in the capabilities of governments.
"In the last 24 hours alone, 1.5 million Americans were vaccinated"
While the EU fails to get vaccines, other countries are already vaccinating intensively.
WELT correspondents report from the USA, Great Britain and Israel how it can work.
Source: WORLD
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Opinions on whether governments are coping well with the crisis are divided in all four countries.
The political preferences and the economic situation of the respondents play a major role in the assessment.
In the USA and Great Britain in particular, people who are politically more left-wing are particularly critical of government action.
Economically better placed rate the way politicians deal with the virus tends to be positive.
The majority of British people want vaccinations
Looking ahead, respondents in all four countries are relatively optimistic that future health crises can be better managed.
In the USA alone, this optimism is somewhat less pronounced.
In three of the four countries, a majority of respondents were against compulsory vaccination by the state before vaccination programs began.
In France, as many as three quarters of the population reject compulsory vaccination.
Great Britain is the exception here, with a majority of 62 percent in favor of compulsory vaccination.
It turns out that this acceptance goes hand in hand with an overall very high level of trust of the British in their government institutions.
It's 71 percent.
In countries where there is less trust in the state, the rejection of compulsory vaccination is also more evident.
In the USA the confidence is 48, in Germany 40 and in France only 30 percent.
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When asked whether the coronavirus has changed their lives, more than two thirds of those surveyed always answer yes, except in Germany.
In the US it is 74 percent, of which 44 perceive “significant” changes.
In England and France, too, clear majorities state that their lives have changed.
Source: WORLD infographic
In the UK, 39 percent see "significant" changes and 31 percent see "some" changes.
In France there are 34 percent who perceive “significant” and still 33 percent who perceive “some” changes.
In Germany, on the other hand, 52 percent of the population state that Corona had hardly any impact on their lives.
15 percent perceive “no effects at all”, 37 percent only perceive minor effects.
Around a quarter notice "some changes" and only 21 percent notice significant changes.
The pandemic is changing women's lives more
However, the number of women who report stronger effects on their existence is ten percentage points higher among women than among men in Germany at 52 percent.
The fact that women are more affected is confirmed in the other countries.
In the US, 79 percent of women complain about significant changes, compared to 69 for men. As in Great Britain (women 75 percent, men 64 percent) that is 11 percentage points more.
In France the difference is six percentage points (women 69 percent, men 63 percent).
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The longer the pandemic lasts, the more it affects people's lives.
Since the summer of 2020, especially in France and Germany, the number of people who say their lives have changed has increased.
In France it is now 67 percent compared to 46 previously.
In Germany, the number rose by eight percentage points from 39 to 47 percent between June and December.
In the USA and Great Britain the basic dissatisfaction was already higher in the summer, here the percentage rose from 67 to 74 (USA) and from 66 to 70 percent (Great Britain).
Source: WORLD infographic
Over the same period, satisfaction with policies to fight the coronavirus declined in three out of four countries.
In Germany, however, it was still exceptionally high in December: 77 percent were of the opinion that the government had responded well to the pandemic.
In June it was even 88 percent.
In the US, approval fell from 47 to 41 percent, in France from 59 to 54 percent.
Only in Great Britain did the government gain approval.
This increased from 46 to 48 percent.
Most criticism of the government comes from the left
It is noticeable that in the USA and Great Britain the political left is considerably more critical than the right.
Only 13 percent (USA) and 21 percent (Great Britain) of the left think the government measures are good here.
For people who tend to place themselves on the right in the political spectrum, the approval is much higher, namely 67 (USA) and 61 (Great Britain) percent.
In Germany, on the other hand, the approval of the left with 85 percent is even higher than that of the right with 75 percent.
Despite the pandemic experience, the majority of people in all four countries are optimistic that their countries' ability to cope with future health crises is high: In Germany, 77 percent say this, in Great Britain it is 68, in the USA 67 and in France 60 percent.
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