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Pandemic saps trust in many world leaders, but not Germany's Angela Merkel

27 July 2020
Dan Ackermann
Data: Kekst CNC; Chart: Axios Visuals

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's response to the coronavirus pandemic has won widespread approval even as other high-profile leaders face growing frustrations, according to polling from Kekst CNC, shared with Axios.

The big picture: Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's truly terrible ratings have been driven largely by economic concerns, while rising case counts have seen President Trump slump to new lows in the poll. Merkel, meanwhile, is winning high marks on both the public health and economic fronts.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron fares far worse, but his numbers have ticked up from -17% last month.
  • Everyone else is heading in the wrong direction, including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for whom an initial boost in popularity has long since evaporated.
  • 64% of Brits think the government lifted lockdown too early, and 67% think the government is just making things up as it goes along.
  • The U.K's beloved National Health Service scores a whopping +85% approval for its pandemic response, however.
  • In Sweden, confidence in the government's unorthodox approach is fading slightly though still relatively strong (+8%).

Worth noting: Just 14% of Swedes say they’re wearing masks indoors in public spaces, compared to 47% in the U.K. and big majorities in France (74%), the U.S. (75%), Germany (79%) and Japan (84%).

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.