Public attitudes to coronavirus: April summary

High level findings from recent polling work on public attitudes to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Scotland.


Views on government and information sources

Rating of government

Respondents were asked how good or poor a job various institutions were doing to contain the spread of the virus[3]. Figure 13 below shows that respondents have been fairly consistent in their high rating of the NHS and their own employer. Scottish respondents have rated the Scottish Government more highly than the UK Government for the past two waves, but ratings for both fell in the most recent week.

Figure 13: Proportion who rate each as doing a good/very good job to contain the spread of Coronavirus
Figure 13: Proportion who rate each as doing a good/very good job to contain the spread of Coronavirus

Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Scottish base (n=568-668)

Trust in information sources

Respondents were also asked about the degree to which they trusted various sources to deliver information about Coronavirus. As with the previous measure, Scottish respondents were asked about Scottish Government separately in the latest two survey waves.

Scientists were regarded as the most trusted source. Levels of trust in Local Health Authorities, The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Scottish Government were very similar, though trust in all sources shown fell in the latest survey wave. Respondents in Scotland were more likely to completely/mostly trust information from Scottish Government than from UK Government.

Figure 14: Proportion who completely/mostly trust information from each source
Figure 14: Proportion who completely/mostly trust information from each source

Source: Ipsos MORI, Scotland data. Scottish base (n=658-665)

Trust in Scottish Government advice and guidance

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that they trust the advice from Scottish Government. The majority agreed with this statement and this has remained relatively stable in recent weeks.

Figure 15: Proportions who agreed or disagreed that 'I trust the advice and guidance from the Scottish Government to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives'
Figure 15: Proportions who agreed or disagreed that 'I trust the advice and guidance from the Scottish Government to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives'

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1002-1042)

Contact

Email: covid-19.behaviours@gov.scot

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