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According to a new survey, nearly four in five Australians say they trust the government to give clear and precise advice on the Covid-19 pandemic, a higher percentage than those who report the same on the media.
The Australian Institute survey also shows that two out of three Australians believe that the government should lead the economy’s maintenance as the country recovers from the Covid-19 crisis, while only one in 10 says that role must be assumed by large companies.
The progressive group of experts surveyed 6,000 people in six countries (Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and South Korea) to learn their views on confidence and economic anxiety in times of coronavirus.
Based on the responses of 1,000 people in each country, the exercise reveals a close relationship between trust in a government’s council and opinions on that nation’s performance in responding to Covid-19.
Overall, it shows that people trust governments and friends and family more to give clear and precise advice, followed by the media, while they trust less on material shared on social media.
In Australia, 78% of respondents report that they have high or high confidence in the government as a source of information, while 77% say the same about friends and family and 58% say it about the media. Only 30% express a certain level of trust in the information on social networks.
Ben Oquist, the executive director of the Institute of Australia, said that Covid-19 was affecting nations around the world in very different ways, but the only unifying response seemed to be a high level of trust in the government institution.
“The economic and health response to the current has been a serious challenge for democratically elected governments worldwide and each nation will emerge from this crisis changed in some way,” he said.
“In a reassuring way, at least so far, faith in government has not yet fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In all but one of the six countries, a majority rated their national government’s overall response to Covid-19 as good or very good, with the highest rating in New Zealand (83%), where Jacinda Ardern has followed a strategy of elimination.
The lowest rating was found in the US. USA (49%), where Donald Trump has faced criticism for a slow initial response and poor national coordination.
In Australia, seven out of 10 respondents (71%) rated the Morrison government’s overall response as good or better.
But in a sign of constant concern about In a protracted economic crisis, only one in three Australian respondents (34%) were confident that they would maintain their current jobs and hours, the lowest confidence rate among the countries included.
On the notion of maintaining current jobs and hours, confidence was found to be highest in the UK (43%) and New Zealand (41%).
Australian and American respondents were also the most likely to have reported that they had either lost their jobs or stopped being recruited in shifts (both 16%).
People were also asked to say which of the five groups they think should lead the way in maintaining the economy in the coming months: government, large companies, individuals, small businesses, or charities.
In all six countries, the government was twice as likely to be selected as the other four groups combined.
The survey report said that people in Australia and the UK were more likely to say that the government should take the initiative to sustain the economy (both 64%), followed by New Zealand (62%).
Only in the USA In the US, where sentiment about the “big government” remains strongest, less than half said the government should take the lead in the coming months (43%). Despite this, Americans selected the government more than twice as often as any other option.
“Australians are just as likely as Americans to have lost their job and are more concerned about job prospects, but have much more faith in a government-led recovery than their US counterparts,” said Oquist.
“While Scott Morrison may want to defend the virtues of a business-led recovery, it is clear that the Australian people want the government to be at the center of how we move forward as a nation.”
Surveys of 1,000 people in each of the six countries were conducted online through Dynata between April 1-14, with nationally representative samples based on gender, age, and region. The margin of error for national results is 3%.
