Respondents across the globe have less confidence in Trump's ability to lead than they do in Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, according to a new survey published by the Pew Research Center on Monday.
An average 30 percent of respondents across the 25 countries in the survey said they had confidence in Putin “to do the right thing regarding world affairs,” compared to 27 percent of respondents who said they had confidence in Trump, and 34 percent in Xi.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the only leader in which a majority of those surveyed, 52 percent, expressed confidence. French President Emmanuel Macron was just behind at 46 percent.
Despite Trump's low ratings, 63 percent of respondents said the world was better off with the United States as the leading power, compared to 19 percent who preferred China in that role.
Meanwhile, a plurality of Russians said they preferred Chinese leadership to U.S. leadership, at 35 and 13 percent respectively. A majority, 52 percent, said they preferred neither.
Russia also became the country where the U.S. dropped most in favorability over the past year, from 41 to 26 percent — which was the lowest rating given to the U.S. by any country.
According to the survey, the percentage of Russians who have a positive view of Trump plummeted — from 53 to 19 percent.
The findings released Monday came from Pew Research Center’s Spring 2018 Global Attitudes Survey. The survey was based on telephone and face-to-face interviews and its results are based on national samples.
Reuters contributed reporting.
