Russian President Vladimir Putin is far more popular around the world than Joe Biden, according to the results of a new global poll that reveals the US is losing influence around the world under Biden’s “weak leadership.”
The poll was conducted by Al-Monitor in partnership with data analytics firm Premise and asked which of the three world leaders they viewed “most favorably.”
44.4% of those surveyed said they viewed Putin most favorably, followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping with 33.8%, while only 21.7% said they preferred Biden.
Al-Monitor suggested that Washington’s popularity suffered due to Biden’s weak leadership regarding Israel’s war in Gaza, but noted that a multitude of other factors could be influencing opinions.
The respondents were almost split on whether Washington (30%) or Moscow (28%) could “most successfully mediate political disagreements in the Middle East.”
However, over 40% agreed that the US was still “best equipped to help resolve the Israel-Hamas war,” compared to Russia’s 27.9% and China’s 13.4%.
Almost half of respondents saw Russia (49.5%) and China (47.9%) playing “more important regional roles” than 10 years ago, while only 37.1% could say the same about the US. In another decade, Beijing (28.9%) would rival Washington (29%) as the “most influential” in the Middle East, they said.
Those polled said they would like their governments to “forge closer ties” with Beijing (43.2%) and Moscow (39.7%), while only 29.7% sought more cooperation with Washington.
Almost two-thirds of participants believe Chinese economic investment has had a positive impact on their country, while 52.3% saw positives in economic cooperation with Russia.
The US economic investment was seen as positive by 39.7%, while 29.8% reported negatives.
The poll surveyed respondents across Egypt, Türkiye, Iraq and Tunisia between March 4 and March 22, 2024, and questioned 2,670 respondents in the four states about their views on power dynamics in the region.