LONDON — People in Spain, Italy and France overwhelmingly support strict measures to counter the spread of coronavirus, according to a poll conducted Sunday and Monday.
In the three European countries worst-hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of deaths from COVID-19 so far, respondents were more concerned about the impact of the virus on public health than the economy.
An overwhelming 90 percent of people in Italy support strict social distancing measures, which include a ban on any movement inside the country and closure of non-essential businesses, according to a poll of 4,500 people carried out by London-based Redfield and Wilton Strategies. The poll sampled the views of 1,500 people in each of the three countries.
In Spain, where people have also been ordered to stay indoors, 88 percent of people support the governments rules, while the French government won approval from 87 percent of those polled. In that country, the government has deployed 100,000 police across the country to enforce rules which only allow people to leave home for officially sanctioned reasons.
A majority of people in both Italy and Spain (59 percent) and more than 40 percent of French people would be willing to tolerate the measures as long as deemed necessary, even if the lockdown lasts for longer than two months.
The number of coronavirus deaths climbed to 6,820 in Italy on Tuesday night, Spain now has a death toll of 2,808, in France the number is 1,100.
A separate poll for YouGov, published on Tuesday morning after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new measures to keep people at home, found 93 percent of Britons supported the move.
Of the three populations polled by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, Italians showed the strongest support for their leader, with 76 percent of respondents either strongly approving or somewhat approving of Prime Minister Giuseppe Contes handling of the crisis. In France, the equivalent figure for President Emmanuel Macron is 49 percent.
Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez impressed his people the least, with 43 percent saying they either strongly disapproved or somewhat disapproved of his handling of the crisis.
Meanwhile, 61 percent of Italians said they do not think the European Union has helped during the crisis against 24 percent who said it had. French respondents were similarly downbeat about the EUs role, with 46 percent versus 31 percent saying they did not think it had helped. The attitude toward Brussels is mRead More – Source
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