POLITICAL TRUST, DEMOCRACY AND PERCEPTIONS REGARDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN EUROPE

Abstract

Political trust, as well as collaboration between the population and the political component, is an issue of concern all over the world, especially in the event of extraordinary circumstances such as the Covid-19 pandemic, whose effects have been felt in every area of society. The primary goal of this research article is to examine the link between political trust, citizen participation in the election process, and population perceptions and attitudes concerning the Covid-19 pandemic. Using the 10th round of the European Social Survey database, the relationship between trust in public institutions, the quality of democracy, population general wellbeing, together with socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes toward the pandemic was studied, for the 22 European countries that participated in the 2020 European Social Survey (ESS).  The main findings demonstrated that the lack of trust in public institutions, low levels of voter turnout, and low perceived democracy, together with low levels of population wellbeing, education, income and an increased level of religiousness among population, are associated with a passive or skeptical attitude in regard to the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated policies, making it challenging for the European governments to improve public policies in the context of an extraordinary situation.