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Pew Research: U.S. response towards pandemic has improved, but few say it's done a good job
CGTN
A view in Seattle, U.S., June 10, 2021. /CFP

A view in Seattle, U.S., June 10, 2021. /CFP

The U.S. receives relatively poor marks compared with other countries and organizations when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 17 countries and regions, but favorable assessments of the U.S. response have increased significantly in 2021.

The 17 countries and regions are Sweden, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, Greece, Australia, Singapore, the UK, Japan, Germany, South Korea and China's Taiwan. 

Pew said it conducted nationally representative surveys of 16,254 adults in 16 countries and regions from March 12 to May 26, 2021, and surveyed 2,596 U.S. adults from February 1 to 7, 2021. 

A median of just 37 percent of the 17 countries and regions think the United States has done a good job, and in all but Japan, Germany and Italy, the U.S. is the lowest rated among the five countries and organizations asked about in the survey.

However, views on how the U.S. has handled the pandemic have improved. A median of 38 percent across 12 countries of the total 17 countries and regions surveyed in both the summer of 2020 and 2021 said the U.S. had done a good job dealing with the outbreak in 2021, compared with 15 percent who said the same last year.

The change is largest in Italy: Just 18 percent said the U.S. was handling the pandemic well in 2020, while 59 percent feel favorably toward the U.S. response now, an increase of 41 percentage points.

Germany receives the highest ratings for its handling of the pandemic. Across 17 countries and regions, a median of 61 percent of respondents say that Germany has done a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. By contrast, a median of 48 percent say the EU as a whole has done well.

Meanwhile, a median of 49 percent of the 17 participants give China positive marks, but opinions about China's response to the pandemic range widely. For example, large shares in Singapore (76 percent) and Greece (72 percent) say China has done a good job, but only about a quarter in Japan and South Korea hold that view.

Views on how China has handled the pandemic have also become more positive in the past year. In the 12 countries surveyed both in summer 2020 and spring 2021, shares saying China has done a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak have increased across the board, including double-digit increases in nine countries.

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