The crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic led to a sharp deterioration in the attitude of European citizens to the United States, according to a study commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
The study was conducted by Datapraxis and YouGov in late April and the first week of May. It was attended by more than 11 thousand people from nine European countries – Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
When asked whether their attitude towards the United States changed during the crisis caused by coronavirus, 59% of respondents said that it worsened, 35% said that it had not changed, and only 6% said that it had become even better. According to the data obtained, the citizens of Denmark (71%), Portugal (70%) and Germany (65%) most of all declared the deterioration of their attitude towards the United States. In addition, 64% of Spanish citizens and 68% of French citizens maintained their previous attitude to the United States.
The Europeans asked the same question about changing attitudes towards China – 48% of respondents said that it has worsened. Moreover, the study revealed the majority of those dissatisfied in Denmark and France (in both countries the indicator is 62%), followed by Germany with 48% and Spain with 46%.
Respondents were also asked about their confidence in the national government and were asked to evaluate how the country’s authorities coped with the crisis. Of the total number of respondents, 29% said that their trust in the government has increased, while 60% positively assess the work of the government. The highest rate was demonstrated by residents of Denmark, where confidence in the authorities grew by 60%. Less than 33% began to trust the government; a total of 40% were dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities. The largest decline in confidence in the government was demonstrated by French citizens (61%).
The results of the study also revealed that most Europeans (63%) became more confident in the need for further EU cooperation than they were before the pandemic. Only 18% believe that “EU integration has gone too far”.
“Although the pandemic has not yet changed the internal political preferences of Europeans, the new ECFR data show that it (the pandemic) has significantly changed the way they see the world outside Europe”, – the study said.
The European Council on Foreign Relations is an international think tank whose goal is to conduct advanced independent research on European foreign and security policy.