Blogthoughts

Latest from Pew - 8/30/2020
Surveying in fourteen of the same advanced democracies I track, Pew asked people if they thought their country had done a good job of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Median approval across all nations was 73 percent. At bottom were the UK (46%) and the US (47% overall, but when asked specifically about Trump, 36% approved).  At the top were Denmark (96%), Australia (95%), and Germany (88%). In terms of measures of performance (see Lying About Covid With Statistics 1), UK and US were at the bottom while Denmark, Australia were at  or near the top. So the people of these nations had pretty accurate perceptions of the actual situation. 

Swedes, whose country was also in the bottom three on success measures, were in the middle, with 73% approving of their government's policies. The official, public-declared policy was to leave it up to individual Swedes to make decisions about their behavior. This maximizes individual freedom and responsibility while accepting more cases and deaths. It appears to have been popular with almost three quarters of Swedes. Something to think about. 

Another question asked repondents if they thought their country was now more united than before the virus hit. The median was 46%. Swede was in second place (to Denmark), with 58% feeling their country was more united. The US was alone at the bottom by a wide margin,