Cross-Country Analysis of Public Trust Towards Government Responses during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objectives. Public trust is a key determinant of public health policies and risk-reduction strategies during a pandemic. This study aims to assess the public trust towards government responses in different countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to determine the relationship between socio-demographic factors and public trust. Methods. We conducted an online survey using convenience sampling between 25 March 2020 to 31 March 2020 to measure public trust in government response during the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries using a questionnaire adapted from a previous study in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak. We also investigated the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and the Trust Score using multivariate analyses, and compared the Trust Scores between countries to distinguish countries with different levels of public trust towards the government. Findings. Responses were collected from 87 countries. Only 7 out of 87 countries surveyed (with at least 30 respondents) were included in further analyses. Among the 7 countries selected for comparison, respondents from India and Malaysia have the highest levels of public trust towards government responses, while public trust is the lowest in the United States. The data collected from 2 countries with at least 350 responses (India and Malaysia) also showed the socio-demographic factors did not predict Trust Scores at a statistically significant level. Conclusion. Respondents in India and Malaysia have high levels of public trust, and the level of public trust is low in the United States. Socio-demographic factors failed to predict public trust at a statistically significant level.