87% give Modi thumbs up on handling COVID-19 crisis

A survey on Tuesday showed a majority of urban Indians, precisely 87 per cent of those polled, have given high ratings to the Narendra Modi government for its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Multinational market research firm Ipsos conducted this survey from April 23-26 by seeking responses from about 26,000 people across 13 countries.

A majority of people in nine out of 13 countries felt that their government was doing a good job of containing the spread of COVID-19, it said.

In India also, "people's report card on the Modi government's handling of COVID-19 crisis is out! ...an overwhelming 87 per cent of urban Indians giving the government high ratings".

Apart from 87 per cent people in urban areas of India, most people in Australia (84 per cent), Canada (81 per cent), Germany (75 per cent) and Italy (61 per cent) were of the view that their government handled COVID-19 crisis well, according to the survey.

While those in Japan (62 per cent) and the hard-hit European countries of Spain (60 per cent) and France (51 per cent), and Russia (47 per cent) felt their government did poor job in managing the crisis.

"Government was quick to enforce a total lockdown and took a number of bold, precautionary measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Now, the government is considering a cautious, partial re-opening in the green zones. Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been lauded by the majority of the populace, polled in the survey," said Amit Adarkar, Ipsos India CEO.

After facing a lot of initial flak worldwide on the handling and seriousness of the pandemic, the role of the World Health Organization has found favour with the majority of people in 11 out of the 13 countries surveyed in containing the spread of COVID-19, but this sentiment has fallen since March in nine out of 12 countries where Ipsos has tracked opinions.

About 75 per cent of the urban Indians surveyed positively view the role of the WHO in containing the spread of the virus, although there is a dip from the previous survey.