Grossly excessive or absolutely necessary? The public perception of government politics in the course of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany

Compared to other European countries, Germany has so far suffered relatively few infections and deaths as a result of the corona pandemic. In scientific discourse, this was primarily attributed to the early introduction of measures by the federal and state governments such as a partial lockdown, the mandatory use of face-masks in certain areas and other social distancing measures to combat the pandemic. After an initially high level of support, protests against these measures and the associated restrictions on civil liberties have been mounting since the beginning of May, arguably because the consequences of the pandemic in terms of infections, death toll and hospital overload are less serious than initially feared. Applying data from of a nationwide online survey (the first of four waves of a panel study), in which 9600 respondents took part in May 2020, we investigate the acceptance of government measures in the public and analyze in particular, which factors impact on this perception. We examine both short-term factors such as the extent to which the measures affect people negatively in their daily lives (for example, as a result of economic hardships associated with job loss or short-time working or the double burden of child care/home schooling and home office that comes along with the closure of schools and daycare facilities) and long-term factors such as low confidence in political institutions. Furthermore, the high number of respondents from all over Germany allows us to test whether the people’s attitudes towards the government measures are correlated with the actual incidence rate at the regional level.