Preface
COVID reveals. It sees through what nations say about themselves and reveals what they really are.
COVID has humbled great nations and raised up small nations. Like an X-ray, COVID shows up the healthy and unhealthy parts of the body politic.
It has shown the frailties of the United States — but also its resilience. It has shown both the capacities and weaknesses of China’s authoritarian system.
Compared to most countries, Australia has fared very well over the past year. Our initial handling of the pandemic was among the best in the world. The Australian economy is humming along. However, in mid-2021, Australia — an open-minded nation of immigrants and travellers, with a long-held belief in globalisation — remains closed to the world.
The 2021 Lowy Institute Poll captures the mood of the Australian public at this remarkable moment. Australians have a renewed sense of optimism about the world and their place in it. The country is rightly proud of its efforts to manage the pandemic.
While Australians’ trust in many countries has increased in 2021, sentiment towards China is now quite bleak. For the first time, more Australians see China’s economic growth as a negative rather than a positive. The majority of Australians blame China for the current tensions in the bilateral relationship. More Australians see China as a security threat than an economic partner. Confidence in China’s President Xi Jinping, already declining, has fallen to a new record low.
However, Australians do not want regional competition to slide into confrontation. Most still believe we can maintain good relations with both superpowers. A majority of Australians would prefer to stay neutral in the event of a military conflict between China and the United States.
Last November, Americans changed course and elected a new president, Joe Biden. Australians are much more confident in President Biden than they were in his predecessor. Trust in the United States has returned to an upward trajectory. Fewer Australians now believe that President Donald Trump weakened Australia’s alliance with the United States, although this is still a majority view. Support for the Australia-US alliance remains strong.
Australia is also looking with renewed purpose to partners and friends in our region. In the year that Quad leaders first met as a foursome, Australians’ trust in both Japan and India has increased. The majority of Australians, traditionally sceptical of foreign aid, want to help Pacific and Southeast Asian countries to access COVID vaccines.
As well as the annual Lowy Institute Poll, this report incorporates Climate Poll 2021, a survey that asked Australians about their views on climate change policy. Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November, the vast majority of Australians want to see further action taken on climate change. They are also moving decisively away from coal. Most say Australia is doing too little to address climate change, but they are even more critical of perceived climate inaction by China, India and the United States.
In this its seventeenth year, the Lowy Institute Poll continues to chart how Australians feel about the world and its challenges, including COVID, China and climate change.
Dr Michael Fullilove
Executive Director
June 2021