Public opinion polls show that all over the world, governments in the early months of the pandemic enjoyed an increase in their popularity. This happened in the UK with Boris Johnson. In April 2020 Johnson had an approval rating of 66% (it had only been 42% in January 2020). The reason for this that in a crisis people want to believe that their government can protect them. For example, Neville Chamberlain was prime minister on the outbreak of the Second World War. Although the war was the result of his failed foreign policy, public opinion polls in September 1939 showed that Chamberlain's popularity was 55 per cent. By December it had increased to 68 per cent. When it became clear in the early months of 1940 that he was not up to the job, his approval rating declined dramatically and he was forced to resign in May 1940.
