Has the Covid-19 crisis had an impact on peoples’ trust in each other and in their governments? What roles have social inequalities played in the way in which people view the crisis? Has it led to a greater sense of social cohesion or has it served to drive people even farther apart?
In the framework of his SOWELL Project (ERC GA n°647870), Yann Algan teamed up with CEVIPOF, the Institut Montaigne, Fondation Jean Jaurès, Fondapol and Terra Nova foundations to carry out an additional wave of CEVIPOF’s Political Confidence Barometer in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The same nationally representative samples of French, British and Germans who took part in the February wave of this survey were contacted in early April and asked to once again answer a core set of questions on their self-confidence, social trust and political trust. They were also questioned on their experiences during lockdown, their feelings of national solidarity, and their opinions regarding the management of the crisis and the related government policies. The timing of the before and after surveys provides for an unprecedented opportunity to examine the “Covid-19 effect” on the attitudes and behaviors of French, British and Germans in terms of social and political confidence.