Survey shows dip in public confidence in Welsh Government’s performance to stop virus spread

A new survey has seen the lowest percentage of people saying the Welsh Government is doing a ‘very good or good job’ to contain spread of virus, with the Health Minister noting it is still ‘extraordinarily high’ score.

Welsh Government has boosted the sampling size of the IPSOS Mori’s Global Advisor system that now conducts a weekly survey tracking public views and behaviours on coronavirus.

The survey looks at adults aged 16 to 74 and seen as broadly representative at population level, and the data is weighted to reflect the demographic profile of the adult population.

The survey started at the end of March and has asked a range of questions since, many ongoing from the start, but others dropping off as and when specific topics or measures are not of relevance.

At the end of June 79% said Welsh Government was doing a “Very good or good job” to contain spread of virus, however during the 15th to 19th January saw down to just 58%.

The raw survey results show several questions are asked, including the following topics:

Threat posed to the country
Threat posed to you personally
Threat posed to your job or business
Believe someone close will be infected
Social distancing
Avoiding gatherings with friends and family
Avoiding gatherings outside of more than two people
Avoiding exercising outdoors more than once per day
Trying to keep 2 metres from people when out
Only leaving home for essential trips
Avoiding meeting more than one other household at a time outside
Measures & responsibility
Welsh Government doing good job to contain spread of virus
NHS doing good job to contain spread of virus
Economic impact
Coronavirus will have financial impact on self and family
Concerned will be able to pay bills one month from now

The official summary of the survey results says, “Perceptions of the threats posed by coronavirus have remained at levels seen in the early stages of the pandemic. It continues to be seen to pose a greater threat to the country than to individuals.”

“The proportion of people only leaving home for essential journeys has increased recently and a large majority in Wales continue to try to keep two metres away from others when out. The Welsh Government and the NHS are generally seen to be doing a good job.”

“The Welsh public continue to think the coronavirus pandemic will have a personal financial impact on them. Around a quarter are concerned they will not be able to pay their bills one month from now.”

Yesterday we asked the Health Minister Vaughan Gething about the survey results on Welsh Government performance, querying why he thought the figures were the lowest in recent weeks, and what action is taken on the feedback.

The Minister replied: “As you go through it, you understand that more people will be concerned about how quickly we can move out (of the pandemic), and the environment has been much more competitive.

“In the first four to six months of the pandemic, there was a large amount of agreement on what to do.

“There were very similar measures taken across UK, there’s been a bit of a parting of the ways and fraying of some of the messaging.

“We’ve now come back I think much more effectively, since just before Christmas, in the way the four nations work together.

“That should mean there is now more effectiveness in the joint messaging, as well as the individual messaging as well. I think we’re starting to see a pickup in that response.

“Also to be fair, at the start of the vaccination program, there were significant criticisms made of the Welsh government at that time, they had a very difficult few weeks with lots and lots of criticism. Now we’re in a position where our vaccine programme is really going great guns and working very, very quickly and effectively.

“So the next time we look at survey evidence, we may see a change, but it’s still the case our positivity ratings from the public about the job we’re doing are very high, extraordinarily high, in a competitive democracy only months away from an election.”

“The election coming, the opportunity to see different perspectives on this, will all mean of course that people will have slightly different views on what the government is doing.”

“I still think we’re doing the right thing to keep people safe, alive and well.

“More importantly than that, it’s important that every one of us in our own lives does the right to keep ourselves and each other safe”.

Top graph: The percentages on the ‘contain spread of virus’ question, left is the start of the pandemic, right is the most recent results.