Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Majorities in the European Union Have Favorable Views of the Bloc
Many approved more of their own country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak than of the EU’s handling
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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
- The state of the pandemic in Europe during the summer 2020 survey period
- 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