Majorities in the European Union Have Favorable Views of the Bloc
The state of the pandemic in Europe during the summer 2020 survey period
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- Majorities in the European Union Have Favorable Views of the Bloc
- In the summer, most had positive views of the EU and its response to COVID-19
- Approval of the EU has fluctuated over time but rose in some European countries over the last year
- Europeans who saw the economy in good shape and who expected economic improvement had more positive views of the EU
- Confidence in Merkel and Macron holding steady – or up – across much of Europe
- Favorable views of governing parties up in some European countries
- Outside Europe, generally favorable views of EU, mixed opinion on how it handled COVID-19
- British views of the EU reached a historic high
- More Britons said EU handled COVID-19 well than said the same of UK
- Among British public, age, education, income and ideology shaped views of EU
- Majorities of EU countries and UK had a favorable view of EU in summer 2020
- Positive views of EU over time
- Younger Europeans tended to have more positive views of EU
- Europeans with more education, those on the ideological left tended to have more positive views of the EU
- Supporters of right-wing populist parties less likely to have positive view of EU
- Majorities in most countries said EU had done a good job handling COVID-19 when polled over the summer
- Many approved more of their own country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak than of the EU’s handling
- Those who saw economy in good shape were more likely to approve of EU’s COVID-19 response as of summer
- Those with optimistic economic outlook were more likely to approve of the EU’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak
- Those who said the EU did a good job handling COVID-19 had a more favorable view of organization
- During the summer, Europeans who saw economic situation as good were more positive toward EU
- Germany’s Angela Merkel received highest marks among European leaders
- Majorities in nearly every EU country surveyed were confident in Merkel
- Confidence in Merkel up in some European countries since 2006
- Favorable views of how EU handled COVID-19 linked to confidence in Merkel
- Half or more across most countries had confidence in Macron over summer
- Outside of France, confidence in Macron has risen in some countries
- Confidence in Johnson varied across Europe
- In EU countries, those who viewed right-wing populist parties favorably were more confident in UK’s Johnson
- Favorable views of political parties in northern Europe
- Favorable views of political parties in southern Europe and the UK
- Favorable views of governing parties rose in several countries
- Favorable views of a few parties declined significantly
- Favorable views of governing party were correlated with positive perception of how the country handled COVID-19 during summer months
- People who thought their country had handled COVID-19 well tended to have more positive views of political parties
- Most right-wing populist parties received higher ratings from those who said their country had done a bad job dealing with COVID-19
- Outside of Europe, publics were mixed on the EU’s coronavirus response
- Favorable views of EU fell in Japan, South Korea
- Key European leaders seen positively in non-European countries surveyed
- In the U.S., Democrats more confident than Republicans in Merkel, Macron, less confident in Johnson
- European populist party classifications
- Political party categorization by country
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