Just a third of voters believe the Government’s handling of the Covid pandemic was a success, new polling has revealed.
Nearly half of people – 48 per cent – have branded the UK’s response a failure, while 19 per cent said they did not know.
The figures for the More in Common think-tank suggest people’s perceptions of the government response have been clouded over the past few years – coming as the Covid inquiry continues to raise concerns over the lack of planning for the pandemic, and in the aftermath of the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson and “Partygate“.
By contrast, a poll for Ipsos Mori in May 2020 found that 60 per cent of people polled believed the government was handling Covid either very well or fairly well.
Younger age groups are more likely to think the government handled the pandemic badly, with 55 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds viewing it as a failure, compared to 22 per cent who think it was a success, while 52 per cent of 25 to 40-year-olds think it was a failure against 29 per cent who think it was handled well.
Only the over-75s are more likely to think the pandemic handling and response was a success – 53 per cent of this age group agreed with that statement, versus 32 per cent who saw it as a failure.
Luke Tryl, UK director of More in Common, said: “After the success of the vaccine rollout, the public gave the government high marks for their handling of the pandemic.
“But as the Covid inquiry picks up pace and Partygate returned to the forefront of public consciousness, it’s clear the perception of rule-breaking at the heart of government has soured public perceptions of how well the government dealt with the pandemic overall.”
More in Common surveyed 2,018 GB adults between 15 and 19 June.
