The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences have topped the list of worries in Switzerland again in 2021, followed closely by environmental protection and climate change, as well as concerns about the state pensions.
Every year, the bank Credit Suisse publishes the results of a survey of the top concerns of Swiss voters.
Like last year, the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact held the top spot for 2021 with 40% listing this as a top concern. Next in line were climate change (39%), the health of state pensions (39%), Swiss-EU relations (33%) and healthcare (25%).
Although the Covid-19 pandemic was this year’s top worry, it slid 11 percentage points from 51% last year to 40% in 2021.
Completing the top 10 list of worries in 2021 were foreigners (20%), refugees (19%), housing costs (17%), unemployment (14%) and (nuclear) energy and energy supply (14%).
At the time of the survey in July and August 2021, a majority (65%) of voters said that they were doing very well or well in economic terms. Over the past 25 years, this figure was exceeded only in 2016 (68%). When asked about the future, a clear majority of voters surveyed were optimistic that they could at least maintain (75%) or even improve their current prosperity (12%). Compared to a year ago, the number of voters who expected their financial situation to decline had returned to pre-pandemic levels (10%).
The survey also found that voters had high levels of trust in the nation’s institutions, despite falls in all areas. For the fourth time in a row, the most trusted agency was the police (63%), despite falling 7 percentage points. The Federal Council came first equal (63%), after dropping 5 percentage points, followed by the Swiss National Bank (51%), Parliament (42%) and the Council of States (42%). In 2021, both parliament (-6 percentage points) and the Council of States (-9 percentage points) lost significant levels of trust, while trust in Churches (19%) and the EU (19%) remained low.
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