British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump have enjoyed a lift in the polls. Photo /Getty Images
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump have enjoyed a lift in the polls. Photo /Getty Images
The coronavirus pandemic has boosted the poll ratings of almost every major democratic leader, according to an FT analysis of polling data from around the world.
The approval rating for the leaders of 10 of the biggest democracies has risen on average by nine points, according to an analysis ofdata from pollster Morning Consult.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson's standing has improved more than any other leader, the polls show, with US president Donald Trump also receiving an uplift despite sustained criticism of his handling of the crisis caused by the virus.
Jeff Cartwright, Morning Consult vice-president, said it was natural for leaders' approval ratings to rise when they are "in the spotlight" during times of crisis. "How the pandemic evolves and its ultimate outcome, however, will be the deciding determinant of whether constituent support holds," he said.
Mr Johnson's poll rating has jumped more than 25 percentage points since the start of 2020, turning him into one of the most popular leaders in the democratic world, with a net approval rating of 29 per cent.
The approval ratings of major world leaders. Image / FT.com
This is behind only Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico. Although Mr Modi is one of the few world leaders whose poll numbers have fallen in the past few months, he still enjoys some of the highest net approval of any world leader, with a 63 per cent positive rating.
Mr Trump's approval rating has risen by 5 percentage points since the turn of the year, which is enough to give him some of his highest ratings since he became president in 2017. This is likely to be a concern for his Democratic opponents ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Democrats will be particularly frustrated that Mr Trump's approval rating has risen during the crisis, despite what critics say have been missteps and the US recording more coronavirus cases than anywhere else in the world.
The US president initially cast doubt on the severity of the disease, comparing it with a seasonal flu and declining to release social distancing guidelines until two weeks ago. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that Mr Trump's delay in acting had cost lives.
Mohamed Younis, editor in chief at the pollster Gallup, said: "The concerning thing for Democrats here is that the president's approval rating has gone up among independent and Democrat voters, not just Republicans."
Angela Merkel has also enjoyed a revival in popularity as Germany's chancellor along with French president Emmanuel Macron and Scott Morrison, Australia's prime minister.
The question for many opposition politicians and campaigners is how quickly this jump in support for sitting governments during the coronavirus crisis might last.
The most recent high water mark for a US president is the 84 per cent net rating enjoyed by George W Bush in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. His standing fell after that, but it took another two years for more Americans to disapprove than approve of the job he was doing.
"The George W Bush example shows that these things last, and they last for quite a long time," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary's University. "But nothing lasts forever."
The popularity of then-UK prime minister Gordon Brown jumped in the aftermath of the 2007 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak when he had just become leader. Just four months later, he had a minus 36 net approval rating.
