Germany by far most admired country, with US, China and Russia vying for second, global poll finds

Annual Gallup survey sheds light on global opinion of world's leadership, Kate Ng reports

Global approval of US leadership falls far behind approval of Germany's, a Gallup poll finds (REUTERS)

Germany's leadership is the most highly regarded in the world, while the US, China and Russia compete for a distant second place, a new world leadership approval poll has found.

The annual Gallup poll surveyed people from 135 countries, and found confidence in Germany under Angela Merkel had risen following a 40-per-cent drop in 2018. The country’s median approval rating rebounded to 44 per cent in 2019.

Competing for second place were the US, China and Russia, with the US only 1 point ahead of China with 33 per cent, and Russia receiving a 30-per-cent rating for the second year in a row.

The poll found that 42 per cent of adults worldwide disapproved of Donald Trump‘s administration, a figure higher than for any other world government. That disapproval rating was twice as high as Germany’s (21 per cent) and higher than Russia’s 33 per cent or China’s 30 per cent.

It comes as the US is embroiled in a bitter ideological battle with China. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo claimed last week that Washington was “perfectly positioned” to lead the free world away from the Chinese Communist Party, which he said would “erode our freedoms and subvert the rules-based order that our societies have worked so hard to build”.

But the higher disapproval ratings of US leadership versus China’s casts doubt on that claim. America’s image fared worst in Europe, where approval sat at a lowly 24 per cent, unchanged from the the previous year.

Washington is also struggling to deal with the impact of coronavirus, with US infection numbers vastly outstripping those in other nations.

In 2017, ratings of US leadership in Asia slumped to lows not recorded since the Bush administration, and have not improved since. The median approval rating of 32 per cent in 2019 is unchanged from 2018. Germany, in comparison, earned a 29 per cent approval rating in Asia.

Even Americans did not rate their leaders as the best in the world. Germany’s leadership notched a 35-per-cent approval rating among that group, compared to America’s 34 per cent, China’s 32 per cent and Russia’s 28 per cent.

“Halfway through 2020, both the United States’ and China’s responses to the coronavirus pandemic have been criticised from east to west,” noted Gallup’s editor in chief, Mohamed Younis.

“The image of US leadership in particular could seriously suffer as the globe watches US states and the federal government struggle to get infection rates under control.

“But while 2019 may feel like a century ago, the public’s impressions of leadership of the world’s major powers could, in some key regions, influence how each nation’s leadership positions in their own country’s lot with each global power in 2020 and beyond,” he added.