Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to hold a higher positive rating across the world than U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys the highest positive ratings out of five global leaders, with 46% expressing confidence in her leadership, as well as the lowest negative perception at 29%. She is followed by French President Emmanuel Macron, with 41% holding positive views of his leadership and 36% holding negative perceptions.
Putin comes in third, with 33% of global respondents saying he would “do the right thing in world affairs” compared to Trump’s 29%.
The share of Pew’s global respondents who expressed “no confidence” toward the leaders stood at 57% for Putin and 64% for Trump.
The Russian leader widened his favorability gap with Trump from the previous Pew survey released in late 2018 by a percentage point. Trump, also by a single percentage point, narrowed his unfavorability gap with Putin.
Both surpassed Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose favorability dropped from 34% to 28% in a year.
Views of the United States are generally positive worldwide, with 54% of Pew’s respondents expressing a favorable opinion toward the country.
The share of Russian respondents who share that view is nearly half the global average, with only 29% expressing a favorable opinion of the United States, the U.S.-based researcher said.
Pew conducted the survey among nearly 37,000 respondents across 33 countries between May and October 2019.
