On average, populist governments record significantly lower increases in popularity in the Corona crisis than non-populist ones, even though they usually introduced similar policies to contain the pandemic. At the same time, however, populists are making greater use of emergency laws to weaken democratic competition and institutions in their country, according to an evaluation by researchers at the Kiel Institute. In the long run, the success of populist governments is likely to depend on the economic consequences of the crisis and whether emergency legislation is withdrawn once the pandemic ends.