Singapore — A global survey shows that 41 per cent of respondents here rate the country’s response to the Covid-19 crisis highly, compared to the worldwide average of 40 per cent.
The survey to determine citizens’ perceptions of their country’s responses to the Covid-19 crisis was conducted by Blackbox Research, the country’s leading social research agency, together with Toluna, an international online panel specialist.
The Toluna-Blackbox Index of Global Crisis Perceptions gauged the responses of 12,592 people in 23 countries, from the ages of 18 and 80, from April 3 through 19.
Indeed, a majority of the individuals surveyed said they were largely unsatisfied with how their own governments have addressed the pandemic. In general, governments in the West received lower ratings than those in the East.
The survey questioned respondents on the following key performance indicators: National political leadership, corporate leadership, community, and media.
Singapore’s scores are as follows:
Respondents who rate national political leadership performance highly — 41 per cent
Respondents who national corporate/business leadership performance highly — 25 per cent
Respondents who rate response of local community/neighborhood highly — 35 per cent
Respondents who say their national media has performed responsibly through the crisis — 92 per cent
Singapore’s overall score of 48 is higher than the global average of 45.
Overall Survey Results
In general, China’s respondents gave their country the highest ratings, with numbers that are favourable across all four performance indicators. Vietnam had the second-highest ratings, and the United Arab Emirates and India tied for third place.
Among Western countries, only New Zealand (56) received a score higher than the worldwide average of 45, with its respondents giving high marks to political leadership and the media.
On the lower end of the scale, Japan scored the lowest, getting an average of 16 for the four indicators. Only 5 per cent of Japanese respondents rated its national political leadership performance highly. Next in line is France, with a national average of 26, and Hong Kong (27).
According to Blackbox Research founder and chief executive officer David Black: “Overall, most countries are not performing up to their citizens’ expectations. The Chinese are exceptionally satisfied, which could be attributed to how they are already in their post-Covid-19 recovery phase amid the global outbreak, which gave a sense that China has handled the crisis well.
“We are also seeing major cracks in self-belief across the Western world. The outlier among them being New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s leadership in effectively curtailing the Covid-19 spread has led to a favourable rating on the country’s crisis performance.”
The survey also had respondents indicate the three things they want to see after the crisis: 58 per cent said they wanted a full economic recovery in 6 months, 52 per cent said they wanted healthcare reforms and 49 per cent indicated they wanted to see a better use of technology for contact tracing.
Concerning the results of the survey, Mr Black said: “The survey findings has shown that the pandemic has dramatically shifted our worldview, and this will unequivocally change the way we approach governance, business, and healthcare moving forward.
“Covid-19 is not the first and will not be the last global pandemic. In order to rebuild public trust and confidence, leaders need to consider the lasting implications and impacts of the crisis in order to emerge from this crisis stronger and more resilient.” /TISG
Read also: SG’s total Covid-19 cases could reach 30,000-40,000 this month