America’s global standing is at a low point. The pandemic made it worse.

America’s standing in the world is at a low ebb. Once described as the indispensable nation, the United States is now seen as withdrawn and inward-looking, a reluctant and unreliable partner at a dangerous moment for the world. The coronavirus pandemic has only made things worse. … This is not […] Read more »

Pandemic PollWatch: Attitudes toward school reopening

The approach of the new school year is driving a global debate about how societies should provide for children’s education as the coronavirus pandemic continues. In most countries, majorities are not comfortable about sending their children back into in-person classrooms, even though there are concerns about remote learning and the […] Read more »

Young people exposed to an epidemic have less trust in political institutions for the rest of their lives

… In a new paper, we provide the first evidence on the effects of epidemics on political trust. We use individual-level data on confidence in political institutions and leaders from the 2006-2018 Gallup World Polls (GWP), fielded in nearly 140 countries annually. Our data cover some 750,000 respondents from 142 […] Read more »

Rattled by a Pandemic, People Turn to Leaders — Any Leaders

As world leaders grapple with when and how to safely reopen their countries, many are also facing a political problem: how to maintain support as they oversee tanking economies, stifling restrictions and staggering death tolls. … Whether they realize it or not, such leaders have a powerful force on their […] Read more »