Poll of 19 countries finds Americans ‘most likely’ to say the pandemic divided the country even further

A Pew Research Poll has showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has created deeper social animosities when compared to the start of the outbreak.

According to the poll, Americans “stand out among all 19 countries surveyed for being the most likely to perceive division in the country and the most likely to say that the country’s response to the pandemic has highlighted the failings of the political system.”

The report added that, “Only in the US does a majority of even the governing party supporters — Democrats, in this case — say the virus has laid bare the country’s political failings.”

In total, 61% of those polled stated that their countries became more divided during the Covid pandemic. The highest level of residents’ disillusion with their country came in the United States, where 81% of respondents believed that the pandemic exposed already problematic political issues.

More than two-thirds of US Democrats and left-leaning independents said they were satisfied with how the government handled the pandemic, whilst 45% of Republicans held the same view. 

The survey also showed that both Democrats and left-leaning independents put more importance on the need for everyone to get vaccinated.

In Sweden, 60% believe that the pandemic response united the country. Sweden was one of two countries in Europe that didn’t lockdown at the start of the pandemic, the other being Belarus.

Residents of Singapore also believe that their government did a good job in regard to managing the country during the pandemic and that the response did somewhat unite the country.

Australia took the opposite approach and had a strict lockdown and effectively closed their borders during the height of the pandemic. The survey showed that the percentage of Australians who thought their government did a good job handling the pandemic dropped from 95% to 76%.

The survey of 20,944 adults was carried out between February 14th and June 3rd.