5

In the past few weeks, we have seen some countries criticize the World Health Organization, particularly from Japan, and more recently the US President's withdrawal of WHO funding subject to a review.

On the other hand, some countries & international unions have supported the WHO's efforts, with Ireland quadrupling their WHO funding, the UK stating that they "no plans to stop funding the WHO, which has an important role to play in leading the global health response", and Germany characterising WHO funding as "one of the best investments".

I haven't, however, seen any opinion polls which seek to measure the general opinion of the public towards the WHO, in particular with regard to their handling of the current pandemic. Have any such polls been conducted in any of the above countries?

5
  • 1
    Most reputable polling companies have a one to two week turnaround time for large polls, so you should expect US data next week or the week after.
    – origimbo
    Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 9:35
  • 4
    Also, you can expect this to be split by "follow the party/leader" polarization effect. The polls will probably be a nothingburger in terms of findings/surprises. See e.g. politics.stackexchange.com/questions/52338/… Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 10:20
  • 2
    @Fizz, it would be interesting to see polling data from February or March, or even 2018 or 2019, with the question "which of these international organizations do you trust." And how that differed across the world.
    – o.m.
    Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 14:43
  • 1
    I'm guessing you want a current poll, so this one from 2013 wouldn't count, yes?
    – user29681
    Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 18:19
  • 1
    @Chipster Ideally in the last couple of years I suppose, but if there's no such recent polls then I'll take what I can get! That poll is interesting, though, as it was conducted during a similar period of increased illness, though clearly incomparable to the current pandemic.
    – CDJB
    Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 18:24

1 Answer 1

1

Here comes the nothingburger, meaning that predictably WHO's rating sank among Republicans, in tandem with Trump's criticism, but was basically unchanged among Democrats (independents were somewhere in between these extremes)

The World Health Organization's (WHO) net approval rating has plunged by 29 points since the start of April amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll has found.

Morning Consult pollsters revealed on Tuesday that the global health group's net approval rating slumped from 54 percent at the start of April to 25 percent at the end of last week.

According to the new poll conducted between April 17 and April 19, 55 percent of registered U.S. voters either "strongly" or "somewhat" approved of the WHO's handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Thirty percent disapproved while a further 14 percent had no opinion.

When the same poll was conducted between April 3 and April 5, 71 percent of voters said they approved of the WHO's work and just 17 percent disapproved of its actions.

Morning Consult reported that the WHO's approval rating was hit by a huge shift in Republican opinion on its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the earlier April poll, 67 percent of GOP voters said they approved of the WHO's work on tackling coronavirus while only 21 percent disapproved—giving the organization a 46 percent net approval rating among the demographic.

But in the latest poll that rating flopped by 56 points to a net disapproval rating of 10 percent. Pollsters said it was the first time Republican voters had given the group a net disapproval rating in its tracker surveys.

The WHO's approval rating also slumped by 19 points among Independent voters, while remaining steady with Democrats—who gave the health body a 62 percent net positive score.

The World Health Organization's falling approval rating has come as its actions faced international scrutiny and severe criticism from President Donald Trump in his coronavirus briefings.

It comes with colorful graph too.

enter image description here

More interestingly perhaps, the same poll conducted an "apportionment of blame" exercise, in which the WHO itself doesn't take that much of a pounding, even among Republicans, but this question just asked who was the most responsible for the spread of Covid-19 in the US:

enter image description here

3

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .