Outside of China, Europe was home to some of the first major coronavirus hotspots – as well as some of the most stringent early national quarantine requirements to curb the spread. Results of a summer survey – conducted before a second surge in cases began, in earnest, in September – indicate that people in most European Union nations approved not only of their national governments’ response to COVID-19, but also of how the EU had handled the outbreak.

Across the eight EU member nations surveyed between June and August 2020, a median of 61% said the EU had done a good job dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Approval was highest in Germany and the Netherlands, where 68% in each country applauded the bloc’s efforts. At least half or more in every EU country surveyed approved of the EU’s response.

The state of the pandemic in Europe during the summer 2020 survey period

On Oct. 29, the World Health Organization’s Europe director declared, “Europe is at the epicenter of this pandemic again.” His concerns came as the region reached a new weekly record for confirmed coronavirus cases (more than 1.5 million the week before his announcement); hospitalizations rose to levels unseen since the spring, when Europe had been the epicenter of the disease; and test positivity rates once again ran high. As of early November, multiple European governments have imposed new and stringent lockdown procedures, and protests against these measures have broken out in some countries.

Pew Research Center’s survey, conducted June 10 to Aug. 3, 2020, not only preceded this major spike in cases, but it took place at a time when new COVID-19 cases were relatively contained in the European Union. At the time of the survey, these EU countries were recording fewer new cases per day – especially compared with some of the previous spikes in April. For example, Italy had a total of 117 new cases per million people between July 1 and Aug. 1, while part of the survey was fielding – down precipitously from a total of 1,716 new cases per million between April 1 and May 1.

The limited number of new cases over the summer months – and the cessation of some travel restrictions and lockdowns – may have contributed to the relatively positive views most European Union residents had toward the EU’s handling of COVID-19 when polled. These views may have shifted since then, and they may continue to evolve as the pandemic does. Nevertheless, the relationships discussed in this report, such as how views of the EU’s response to COVID-19 are related to overall opinion of the EU, are important to understand. As this report indicates, views of the European Union are related to people’s assessments of its response to the pandemic, as well as people’s economic attitudes.

These positive evaluations also extended to the Brussels-based institution, more broadly, which a median of 66% rated favorably this summer. In Germany, EU favorability reached a record high in the more than 15 years Pew Research Center has been surveying on the topic, with 73% of Germans offering positive assessments of the bloc. In most other EU member states surveyed, ratings largely held steady or improved since last year. In the United Kingdom – in the Center’s first survey of the country since it formally left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020 – the 60% who said they had positive views of the EU is also a historic high, and up 6 percentage points since last year.

Country spotlight: United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the only European country included in this survey that is not a member of the European Union, having left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, three and a half years after the June 2016 Brexit referendum. But, in this first Pew Research Center survey since the country formally left the bloc, views of the European Union climbed to a new historic high, with 60% saying they had a favorable view of the Brussels-based organization.

Moreover, almost two-thirds in the UK (64%) said at the time of the survey – before the latest surge in European cases and new restrictions – that the EU had done a good job handling the coronavirus outbreak. This was significantly more than the 46% who said the UK itself did a good job dealing with the pandemic over the same period of time.

Indeed, across all nine European countries included in this survey, the British public stands apart for having the worst assessments of their own country’s response to the pandemic – while simultaneously having one of the more positive evaluations of the EU’s response. Britons who approved of the EU’s handling of COVID-19 were significantly more likely to have a favorable view of the organization, overall, than those who thought the EU had handled the outbreak poorly – 72% vs. 42%, respectively.

Britons were also very divided in their assessments of the EU. For example, 71% of Britons ages 18 to 29 expressed a favorable view of the EU, while only 49% of those 50 and older said the same. This 22 percentage point gap is the largest among the nine European countries surveyed. Similarly, Britons with a postsecondary education or more tended to have more favorable views of the EU than those with less education – and, once again, the 21-point educational gap is the largest across the European countries.

Britons who placed themselves on the left of the ideological spectrum were also more likely to have a favorable opinion of the EU than those who were on the ideological right, and the 29-point gap between those on the left and those on the right was the largest in Europe.

Partisan preferences also shaped EU assessments. Britons with favorable views of the governing Conservative Party were less likely than those with unfavorable views of the party to express a positive opinion of the EU. The same was true of Britons who had a favorable view of the Brexit Party, which campaigned on the UK leaving the EU in a “clean break.” However, among supporters of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, the pattern was reversed: Those who had favorable opinions of each party were more likely to have a positive view of the EU than those with unfavorable opinions of the parties.

These deep divisions were also evident in assessments of Prime Minister Boris Johnson: 51% of Britons had confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs while 49% lacked confidence. In fact, fewer Britons expressed confidence in him than Macron (64%) or Merkel (76%).

As has regularly been the case in these surveys, younger people and those on the ideological left tended to have more positive views of the European Union than older age groups or those on the ideological right, respectively. And people with favorable views of right-wing populist parties tended to have less positive views of the EU than others.

When polled over the summer, in every European country surveyed, people who said the EU did well in its response to the pandemic were much more likely to have a positive view of the EU than those who thought the EU did a poor job dealing with COVID-19. Perceptions of the economy at the time of the survey – as well as optimism about the economic future – also colored views of the bloc. Those who thought their domestic economy was in good shape and those who expected their country’s economy to improve were both more likely to have favorable views of the EU and to approve of its handling of COVID-19 than people who thought the economy was in bad shape or expected the economy to worsen.

When it comes to confidence in the two European leaders widely credited with compromising in order to pass a 750 billion euro recovery plan for the bloc – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron – both were trusted to do the right thing regarding world affairs by around half or more in nearly every EU member state polled. In the case of Merkel, confidence in her leadership increased substantially since last year in Germany (up 7 percentage points), the Netherlands (+6) and Italy (+6) and stood at historic highs in Spain as well as several non-EU member states, including the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Confidence in Macron also increased significantly over the past year in Italy (+9 points) and Sweden (+6) and among several non-EU states including the UK (+9), Japan (+9) and the U.S. (+6). As was the case with attitudes toward the EU, views of both Merkel and Macron were related to assessments of how well the EU had done handling COVID-19.

Trust in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has overseen his country’s Brexit transition out of the European membership organization, was much more limited. Across the eight EU countries surveyed, a median of 36% had confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Even in the UK itself, confidence in Johnson (51%) was lower than confidence in Macron (64%) and Merkel (76%).

People in these EU countries largely approved of the job their own countries had done handling COVID-19 when they were surveyed between June and August of this year. And, in many countries, this was related to favorable views of political parties. For example, in Germany, people who said the country had done a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak were 50 percentage points more likely to have a favorable view of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Views of the ruling En Marche in France, too, were heavily colored by whether people thought the country had done a good job or bad job dealing with COVID-19.

The sense that the country had handled the pandemic well also colored views of some opposition parties. For example, in the Netherlands, those who thought their country had handled the pandemic well tended to have more positive views not only of the ruling People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66) but also of the Labour Party.

Against this backdrop, approval of many political parties was up significantly in the summer in comparison with the previous year. In Germany, for example, positive views of two of the ruling parties, CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), rose 14 and 12 percentage points over 2019, respectively. Ruling parties in Italy, the UK and the Netherlands also experienced significant bumps in approval. And opposition parties like the UK’s Labour Party as well as the Socialist Party and the Republicans in France also gained in the polls.

Over this same period, views of some right-wing populist parties – Forum for Democracy (FvD) in the Netherlands and Lega in Italy – fell by 8 and 15 points, respectively.

These are among the findings of a Pew Research Center survey, conducted June 10 to Aug. 3, 2020, among 7,970 adults in eight European Union member nations: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Together, these eight European Union member states account for about 68% of the EU population and 79% of the EU economy, according to 2019 data from the World Bank. Additional findings come from a survey of the United Kingdom, conducted among 1,003 adults from June 10 to July 28, 2020.

Results in this report also draw from surveys conducted June 11 to July 29, 2020, among 5,303 adults in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Across these five non-European countries, evaluations of how well the European Union handled COVID-19 varied widely. In both Canada and the U.S., around six-in-ten or more said the EU had done a good job when surveyed this summer. In Australia, evaluations were mixed: 46% approved of the EU’s handling of the global pandemic while 45% said it had done a poor job. And in Japan and South Korea, half or more said the EU had done a bad job dealing with the outbreak (52% and 78%, respectively). While overall favorability of the EU also varied widely across these countries – from a low of 47% in Japan to a high of 71% in Canada – in each country, perceptions of how well the EU had done handling COVID-19 is related to favorability of the EU.

The European Union was seen more favorably than not across each of the eight EU member countries surveyed this summer. A median of 66% across these countries expressed a positive opinion, with positive ratings ranging from a low of 58% in Italy to a high of 73% in Germany – that nation’s most positive assessment of the EU since the question was first posed in 2004.

While their country is no longer a member of the economic and political union, 60% of Britons viewed the EU favorably, compared with 37% who had a negative view. In the UK, too, this was the most positive assessment of the organization over the 16 years Pew Research Center has polled Britons on the topic.

Outside of the record highs recorded in Germany and the UK, positive views of the EU increased substantially in France, from 51% in 2019 to 61% this year. Elsewhere, views have largely held steady. Only in Sweden did EU favorability decline, from 72% in 2019 to 66% this year.

Across most of the EU countries surveyed, those ages 18 to 29 were more likely to hold favorable views of the EU than those 50 and older. For example, 80% of Dutch adults under 30 had a positive view of the organization, compared with 62% of their older counterparts.

The largest age difference in views of the EU comes from outside the bloc: Younger Britons were 22 percentage points more likely to have a favorable view of the EU than those ages 50 and older.

In most European countries, those with more education were more likely to hold a favorable view of the EU than those with less education.¹ In Denmark, for example, 81% of those with a postsecondary education or more had a positive view of the EU, compared with 66% of those with a secondary education or less. In the UK, those with more education were 21 percentage points more likely to have a favorable view of the EU than those with less education.

In several countries, those who placed themselves on the ideological left were also more favorable toward the EU than those on the right. In Italy, for example, those on the left were 20 points more likely to express a favorable view of the EU than those on the right.

Europeans who held favorable views of right-wing populist parties were less likely to have a positive opinion of the EU than those who held unfavorable views. (For more information on European populist parties, see Appendix A.)

In Sweden, those who supported the right-wing Sweden Democrats were 30 percentage points less likely to have a favorable view of the EU than those who did not support the Sweden Democrats. Double-digit differences in EU favorability were present between supporters and nonsupporters of nearly every right-wing populist party included in the survey.

Only in Spain were those with a favorable view of the right-wing Vox party more likely to have a favorable opinion of the EU than those with an unfavorable view of the party.

Supporters of the left-wing Podemos in Spain and the centrist Five Star Movement in Italy were also more likely to have a favorable view of the EU than nonsupporters.

Europe was home to some of the earliest – and largest – outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in February and March. But, following strict quarantine measures in places such as Spain, Italy and France – as well as some EU-wide initiatives like closing borders between countries for the first time in the bloc’s history – the number of cases fell dramatically. While cases are now rising precipitously across much of Europe, results of a survey fielded from June to August indicate that as of summer 2020, many in Europe said the EU had handled COVID-19 well.

(For more on the state of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe at the time of the survey, see “Europeans approved of EU’s handling of COVID-19 this summer – but much has changed since”)

Across the eight EU member states surveyed, a median of 61% said the EU had done a good job handling the coronavirus outbreak. Germany and the Netherlands were the most positive toward the EU response, with 68% in both countries agreeing the EU had done a good job handling COVID-19. Publics in Italy (54%) and Belgium (51%) had a more mixed assessment, but about half or more in these countries still said the EU had handled the outbreak well.

In the UK – which formally left EU in January of this year – around two-thirds also approved of the EU’s handling of COVID-19. This is notably more Britons than approved of the UK’s own domestic handling of COVID-19, which only 46% applauded.

Outside of the UK, Spain stands out as the only other European country surveyed where more approved of how the EU handled COVID than said the same of their own country – 65% vs. 54% said each had done a good job, respectively.

French adults viewed both the EU and their own country’s response in similar terms, while in places like Italy and Germany, people were more likely to say their own government’s response was good than that of the EU by 20 percentage points.

In Sweden, Italy, Germany and the UK, those on the ideological left were more likely than those on the right to approve of the EU’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In France – where the ruling party, En Marche, is centrist – those who place themselves in the center of the ideological spectrum were more likely to approve of the EU’s work. Age, education levels and income levels were only related to opinions of the bloc’s efforts in a handful of countries.

Support for right-wing populist parties was related to criticism of the EU’s response to coronavirus in four European countries. This was most pronounced in Germany, where 53% of those with a favorable opinion of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) said the EU had done well handling the COVID-19 outbreak, versus 69% who do not hold favorable views of the party – a 16-point difference. Similar differences emerged in Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Economic views were related to opinion of how EU handled COVID-19

The coronavirus outbreak has negatively impacted economies across the European Union and the UK. In July, as the survey was fielding across Europe, the EU agreed to a 750 billion euro bailout package to help stimulate the economies of its member nations and to help them recover from the recession caused by COVID-19.

In all EU member states surveyed, those who viewed their own domestic economy as in good shape were more likely to approve of the EU’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The largest difference was among Belgians: 64% of those who saw the economy in good shape also approved of the job the EU had done handling the outbreak, compared with 45% of those who saw the economy in poor shape. In the UK, which is no longer a member state, assessments of the country’s economy were unrelated to opinion of the EU’s response.

In most countries, too, people’s economic optimism was tied to their opinions of the EU’s efforts. For example, in Italy – one of the largest beneficiaries of the EU recovery deal – those who expected their economy would improve were more likely to approve of the EU’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak than those who expected their economy to worsen – 61% vs. 46%, respectively.

In Spain, another country that will be a key recipient of EU money, the difference was almost 20 percentage points. But even in the Netherlands – a country that led some of the opposition to the stimulus package prior to its passage – the public’s economic optimism was tied to their views of the EU’s response.

Perceptions of EU response to COVID-19 colored views of the organization

In every European country surveyed over the summer, those who said the EU had done well in its response to the pandemic were much more likely to have a positive overall view of the organization than those who said the EU handled COVID-19 poorly. In France, those who said the EU had done well in dealing with the outbreak were 42 percentage points more likely to have a favorable opinion of the organization than those who said the EU’s response had been bad (78% vs. 36%, respectively).

As was the case with regard to perceptions of the EU’s response to COVID-19, views of the economy also color views of the EU overall. In this summer’s survey, those who said their national economy was doing well were more likely to have a favorable view of the EU. In Sweden, for example, 72% with a positive economic outlook had a favorable view of the EU, compared with 52% who said their current economic situation was bad. Significant differences were present across every EU country included in the survey. This is consistent with previous Pew Research Center surveys, which found that those with a positive view of the current economy were more likely to have a favorable view of the EU than those with a negative view of the economy.

When it comes to future economic perceptions, the pattern was similar: Those who expected their country’s economy to improve next year had a more positive opinion of the EU than those who said the economic situation will worsen.

The survey asked about confidence in two leaders of EU member countries and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Of these leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron received generally positive ratings: A median of 80% across eight EU member states had confidence in Merkel, and 67% said the same of Macron. (The poll was conducted over the summer, prior to the latest surge in European cases and additional government restrictions.)

Johnson received somewhat lower marks from the same EU countries: A median of 36% said they had confidence in Johnson to do the right thing in world affairs, while 59% had no confidence in the British leader.

Still, Johnson fared somewhat better across these eight EU countries than other non-EU leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin (a median of 23% across these eight countries were confident in Putin), Chinese President Xi Jinping (20%) and U.S. President Donald Trump (13%).

Merkel trusted across Europe

Many across the EU countries surveyed had confidence in German Chancellor Angela Merkel to do the right thing regarding world affairs, including almost nine-in-ten in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.

In every country except for Italy, majorities had confidence in Merkel. Italians, however, were split in their assessment: 50% said they had confidence while 49% said they had no confidence in her leadership on global affairs.

In the UK, Britons were very confident in Merkel: About three-quarters (76%) trusted the leader to do the right thing.

In general, confidence in Merkel has increased or stayed roughly the same across several European countries since this question was first asked. In Sweden, for example, the share who expressed confidence in Merkel increased from 65% in 2007 to 87% in this year’s survey. (In 2007, 24% of Swedes did not offer an opinion.)

Confidence in Merkel has increased by double digits in Spain (up 35 percentage points) and the UK (+25 points) since 2006. This year, in both countries, confidence in Merkel stood at its highest level on record. Italy is the only European country where confidence in Merkel declined.

In almost every European country surveyed this summer, confidence in Merkel was linked to people’s perceptions of how well the EU did handling COVID-19. For example, in Italy, those who thought the EU had done a good job dealing with the outbreak were more than twice as likely to say they had confidence in Merkel than those who thought the EU did a bad job handling the pandemic – 66% vs. 32%, respectively.

In many European countries surveyed, those with more education were more likely to have confidence in Merkel. For example, in Italy, 64% of those with a postsecondary education or above were confident in Merkel’s ability to do the right thing, while 47% of those with a secondary education or below said the same.

Outside of Germany, ideology often shaped views of Merkel. In Italy, the UK and Sweden, those who placed themselves on the left had more confidence in Merkel than those who placed themselves on the right. This pattern was reversed in France and Spain, where those on the right were more confident in Merkel than those on the left.

Macron trusted across much of the EU

French President Emmanuel Macron received generally positive ratings across the eight EU countries surveyed and the UK. An EU median of 67% had confidence in the French leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs, but this ranged from a low of 35% in Italy to a high of 75% in both Denmark and Sweden.

In the UK, people were more confident than not in the French president. Roughly two-thirds had confidence in Macron to do the right thing, while one-third said the opposite.

Confidence in Macron has risen in some European countries since this question was first asked in 2018. In Spain, for example, positive ratings increased from 46% in 2018 to 58% in 2020, though they are largely unchanged since last year. Confidence in Macron also increased in the UK (by 9 percentage points) and Italy (+7 points) over the past two years.

In Germany, however, confidence in the French leader decreased 6 points since 2018, though it changed little since last year.

Those who said the EU did a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak were more likely to have confidence in Macron than those who evaluated the organization’s response more negatively. In the Netherlands, for example, 81% who said the EU handled COVID-19 well were confident in Macron, compared with 61% who said the EU had done a bad job.

And, as was the case with Merkel, those with at least a postsecondary education were more likely to express confidence in Macron than those with a secondary education or less in several countries.

Mixed views of Boris Johnson across EU countries

Across the eight EU countries surveyed over the summer, a median of 36% said they had confidence in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Positive assessments of the prime minister ranged from 20% in Italy to 65% in Sweden.

In five of the eight EU countries polled, majorities said they had no confidence in Johnson. Roughly three-quarters (78%) of Spaniards and Italians held this view.

In several of the countries surveyed, those who placed themselves on the right of the ideological spectrum were more likely to have confidence in Johnson than those who placed themselves on the left.

Right-wing populist supporters were also more likely to express confidence in Johnson than nonsupporters. In the Netherlands, for example, those with a favorable view of the Party for Freedom (PVV) were 23 percentage points more likely than those with an unfavorable view of the party to say they had confidence in Johnson.

In 2019, when Pew Research Center asked about party favorability in Europe, few parties received positive marks from at least half the population. But, among the 40 parties tested in summer 2020, 11 were seen favorably by more than 50% in each country.

Across all northern European countries surveyed except Belgium, at least one party per country met this threshold. The same is not the case when it comes to southern European countries, however. In France, Spain and Italy, no party earned approval from more than half, and in the case of most parties tested in these three countries, few cracked 40%. In the United Kingdom, 48% reported positive opinions of the opposition Labour Party, while all other parties tested fall short of this mark.

In Denmark – where, as of summer, nearly everyone (95%) approved of how their country had handled the COVID-19 pandemic and a majority said their country was more united than before it began – there was also widespread approval of the governing Social Democrats. Around three-quarters had a favorable view of the party – making the Social Democrats not only the most popular party in Denmark but also the most popular among the 40 European parties asked about on the survey.

In Germany, the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was seen more favorably (61%) than all other parties asked about – including their coalition partner the Social Democratic Party, or SPD (54%). But these two parties were both as popular as or more popular than the other German political parties asked about, including The Greens/Alliance 90 (54%), The Left (35%) and Alternative for Germany (AfD) (14%).

In the Netherlands and Sweden, while the governing parties were seen favorably by around half or more, they tended to be no more popular than major opposition parties. In Belgium, Italy, France and Spain, while the same pattern held true, the governing parties were only seen favorably by around four-in-ten or fewer in each country. For example, in Belgium, 36% had a positive view of the governing Reformist Movement. And in France and Italy, around a third said the same of En Marche (35%), the Democratic Party (36%) and the Five Star Movement (35%).

The UK stood out as the only country in which an opposition party was significantly more popular than the governing party. About half had a favorable view of Labour – which is out of government – while 41% said the same of the Conservative Party, which has led the country since 2010.

Populist parties were among the least popular parties tested. In almost every instance, populist parties received support from only around a third or less of the population. For example, in Germany, only 14% had a favorable view of AfD. In France and Belgium respectively, National Rally and Flemish Interest each failed to garner 25%.

The only two populist parties that received favorable reviews (relative to other parties asked about in their country) were those that are currently in government: Podemos in Spain (35%) and the Five Star Movement in Italy (35%).

Favorable views of many parties have increased since last year

Positive ratings for many parties were also up substantially since last year. In Italy, for example, although only a minority (36%) had a positive view of the Democratic Party, this is still up 13 percentage points since last year. In the UK, positive views of both Labour and the Conservative Party increased by double digits (up 15 and 11 points, respectively). The two governing coalition parties in Germany, CDU and SPD, saw similarly large growth in approval over the past year (up 14 and 12 points).

In France, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, too, at least one party significantly improved in the public’s esteem since last year.

In four of the seven European countries for which trends are available, at least one governing party improved its image since 2019. No governing parties experienced significant shifts in their approval ratings in France, Spain and Sweden. But, despite an unprecedentedly weak economy and a widespread sense that the economy is not doing well, no governing parties in Europe experienced a significant loss of favorability over this period.

The only parties for which favorability decreased over this period were the Liberal Democrats in the UK, The Greens/Alliance 90 in Germany and two right-wing populist parties – Forum for Democracy in the Netherlands and Lega in Italy. Lega, the only party that experienced a double-digit drop in approval, is headed by Matteo Salvini, who occupied the Italian Parliament to protest virus restriction measures and was outspoken about his anti-mask stance during the course of fieldwork.

Opinions about how well each country handled COVID-19 colored views of most parties

Across the seven European countries surveyed over the summer – when the coronavirus appeared to be largely under control across the region – there was a strong relationship between favorable views of the governing party that held the most seats in the government and the sense that the government had done a good job handling COVID-19. For example, Denmark stood apart as both the European country where the highest percentage said their government had done a good job dealing with the coronavirus pandemic (95%) and as the home to the party (the Social Democrats) that garnered the highest approval ratings (72%). In contrast, in the UK – where only 46% said their country had done a good job with the pandemic, the lowest in Europe – the Conservative Party in power was liked by only 41% of the public.

More broadly, favorability of many political parties was colored by perceptions of how well the country had handled COVID-19. In almost every country surveyed, the gap was largest when it came to evaluations of the governing party. For example, in Germany, people who said the country had dealt well with the outbreak were 50 percentage points more likely to have a favorable view of the governing CDU than people who said it had done poorly. And in Spain, 64% of those who thought the country had done a good job dealing with the pandemic saw the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party – the party currently in charge – favorably, compared with 20% of those who said the country had done a bad job. Two populist parties that are part of the governing coalitions in their country – the left-wing Podemos in Spain and the centrist Five Star Movement in Italy – also were seen more positively by those who thought the country did well.

In some instances, opposition parties were also seen more positively by people who applauded their country’s handling of COVID-19. In France, for example, people who thought the country had dealt well with the pandemic were also more likely to have favorable views of the Republicans and the Socialist Party, not just En Marche. But, in some countries, including Spain and the UK – two countries in Europe where opinions about pandemic handling were among the most divided by partisanship – the opposite was true. For example, in the UK, those who thought the UK had done well dealing with the pandemic were less likely to have a favorable view of the opposition Labour Party, and in Spain, the same was true when it came to the out-of-government People’s Party.

People who thought their country had done well handling the pandemic were less likely to have a favorable view of right-wing populist parties. The gap was largest when it came to the Swedish Democrats, though in the Netherlands (PVV), Germany (AfD) and Spain (Vox) the gap was 20 percentage points or more.

In the non-European countries surveyed, publics gave mixed reviews of the European Union’s handling of COVID-19. In both Canada and the U.S., about six-in-ten or more said the EU had done a good job dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Australians were roughly divided: 46% said the EU had done a good job while 45% rated it poorly. In Japan, more said the EU had done a bad job than a good job – 52% vs. 34%, respectively. And in South Korea – which has been lauded for its response to the global pandemic – the public was much less impressed. Only 19% believed the EU did a good job handling the coronavirus, and an overwhelming 78% thought it did a bad job. (The poll was conducted over the summer, prior to the latest surge in European cases and additional government restrictions.)

Despite these mixed reviews of its coronavirus response, as an institution the EU received relatively positive ratings in these countries. Around half or more in every country had a favorable view of the organization, ranging from a low of 47% in Japan to a high of 71% in Canada.

Favorable assessments of the EU declined substantially in Japan and South Korea, even while they held steady or increased elsewhere. In Japan, the share who had a favorable opinion of the organization decreased 13 percentage points, from 60% in 2019 to 47% this year. And in South Korea, favorable opinion declined 10 points over this same time period.

In every non-European country surveyed, those with more education were more likely than those with less education to express a favorable view of the EU. In the U.S., for example, two-thirds of those with some college education or more had a positive opinion of the EU, compared with about half (53%) of those with a high school education or less. (In some countries, those with less education were less likely to provide a response.)

In the U.S., Canada and Australia, those who placed themselves on the left of the ideological spectrum were more likely than those who placed themselves on the right to have a favorable opinion of the EU.

Views of Merkel, Macron and Johnson in non-European countries

Among the non-European countries surveyed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel received positive ratings, though ratings were slightly lower outside the region than inside (due in part to fewer people outside of Europe offering an opinion about Merkel). Still, a majority in each of these five non-European countries surveyed had confidence in her leadership in world affairs.

When it came to French President Emmanuel Macron, around half or more in every non-European country surveyed had confidence in him. His ratings outside Europe were somewhat lower than those from European countries, where a median of 67% voiced confidence in him (again, more outside of Europe did not respond).

Views of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were noticeably higher in non-European countries compared with his ratings within Europe. Outside Europe, around half or more had confidence in him in each of the countries surveyed – whereas in five of eight EU countries, majorities lacked confidence in his handling of global affairs.

Confidence in Merkel largely held steady from 2019 in the five non-European countries surveyed. Only in Japan was there significant change – confidence in her was up 7 percentage points since last year. Japanese confidence in Macron also increased over this period (+9 points). Only in South Korea did Macron’s image suffer, down 7 points since last year.

Assessments of the EU’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak were sometimes tied to confidence in European leaders. Across three of the five non-European countries included in the survey, for example, those who said the EU did a good job dealing with COVID-19 were more likely to have confidence in both Merkel and Macron.

In the U.S., Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents to express confidence in Merkel and Macron. Republicans were more likely than their Democratic counterparts, however, to say they had confidence in Johnson.

Classifying parties as populist

Although experts generally agree that populist political leaders or parties display high levels of anti-elitism, definitions of populism vary. We use three measures to classify populist parties: anti-elite ratings from the 2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES), Norris’ Global Party Survey and The PopuList. We define a party as populist when at least two of these three measures classify it as such.

CHES, which was conducted from February to May 2020, asked 421 political scientists specializing in political parties and European integration to evaluate the 2019 positions of 277 European political parties across all European Union member states. CHES results are regularly used by academics to classify parties with regard to their left-right ideological leanings, their key party platform positions and their degree of populism, among other things.

We measure anti-elitism using an average of two variables in the CHES data. First, we used “PEOPLE_VS_ELITE,” which asked the experts to measure the parties with regard to their position on direct vs. representative democracy, where 0 means that the parties support elected officeholders making the most important decisions and 10 means that “the people,” not politicians, should make the most important decisions. Second, we used “ANTIELITE_SALIENCE,” which is a measure of the salience of anti-establishment and anti-elite rhetoric for that particular party, with 0 meaning not at all salient and 10 meaning extremely salient. The average of these two measures is shown in the table below as “anti-elitism.” In all countries, we consider parties that score above a 7.0 as “populist.”

The Global Party Survey, which was conducted from November to December 2019, asked 1,861 experts on political parties, public opinion, elections and legislative behavior to evaluate the ideological values, issue position and populist rhetoric of parties in countries on which they are an expert, classifying a total of 1,051 parties in 163 countries. We used “TYPE_POPULISM,” which categorizes populist rhetoric by parties. We added only “strongly populist” parties using this measure. In Italy, experts were asked to categorize the Center-Right coalition instead of individual parties within the coalition. The coalition includes Lega and Forza Italia. For both parties, we have used the coalition rating of “strongly populist.”

The PopuList is an ongoing project to classify European political parties as populist, far right, far left and/or euroskeptic. The project specifically looks at parties that “obtained at least 2% of the vote in at least one national parliamentary election since 1998.” It is based on collaboration between academic experts and journalists. The PopuList classifies parties that emphasize the will of the people against the elite as populist.²

The Brexit Party in the UK is only classified as populist on one measure but is still included for analysis in the report. It is not included in the PopuList and does not meet our anti-elite CHES threshold of 7.0, but is considered a right-wing populist party by the Global Party Survey and other experts.

Classifying parties as left, right or center

We can further classify these traditional and populist parties into three groups: left, right and center. When classifying parties based on ideology, we relied on the variable “LRGEN” in the CHES dataset, which asked experts to rate the positions of each party in terms of its overall ideological stance, with 0 meaning extreme left, 5 meaning center and 10 meaning extreme right. We define left parties as those that score below 4.5 and right parties as those above 5.5. Center parties have ratings between 4.5 and 5.5.

For this report, we grouped people into two political categories: those who support the governing political party (or parties) and those who do not. These categories were coded based on the party or parties in power at the time the survey was fielded, and on respondents’ answers to a question asking them which political party, if any, they identified with in their country.³

In countries where multiple political parties govern in coalition (as in many European countries), survey respondents who indicated support for any parties in the coalition were grouped together. In Germany, for example, where the center-right CDU/CSU governed with the center-left SPD at the time of the survey, supporters of all three parties were grouped together. In countries where different political parties occupy the executive and legislative branches of government, the party holding the executive branch was considered the governing party.

Survey respondents who did not indicate support for any political party, or who refused to identify with one, were considered to be not supporting the government in power.

Countries where an insufficient number of people identified with any party in government have been excluded from the analysis. Below is a table that outlines the governing political parties in each country.

This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.   

Laura Silver, Senior Researcher Moira Fagan, Research Analyst Nicholas O. Kent, Research Assistant

 James Bell, Vice President, Global Strategy Alexandra Castillo, Research Methodologist Aidan Connaughton, Research Assistant Stefan S. Cornibert, Communications Manager Claudia Deane, Vice President, Research Kat Devlin, Research Associate Janell Fetterolf, Research Associate Shannon Greenwood, Digital Producer Christine Huang, Research Analyst Michael Keegan, Senior Information Graphics Designer David Kent, Senior Copy Editor Gar Meng Leong, Communications Associate Clark Letterman, Senior Survey Manager Gracie Martinez, Administrative Coordinator Mara Mordecai, Research Assistant Martha McRoy, Research Methodologist J.J. Moncus, Research Assistant Patrick Moynihan, Associate Director, International Research Methods Julia O’Hanlon, Communications Associate Stacy Pancratz, Research Methodologist Jacob Poushter, Associate Director, Global Attitudes Research Shannon Schumacher, Research Associate Richard Wike, Director, Global Attitudes Research

About Pew Research Center’s Summer 2020 Global Attitudes Survey

Results for the survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Gallup and Abt Associates The results are based on national samples, unless otherwise noted. More details about our international survey methodology and country-specific sample designs are available here.