President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine at a time when Russia had been able to slowly regain some of the world’s lost trust in the annexation of Crimea to its claim to dictate the fate of the planet.
After February 24, the country’s reputation as one of the world’s leaders completely collapsed.
This is stated by the American sociological agency Gallup, not to be confused with the Bulgarian Gallup International, which has published its annual survey on the assessment in 116 countries and territories around the world. The data was collected between April 2021 and January 2022 and affects attitudes towards the leadership qualities of the United States, Germany, China, and Russia.
They show that the median approval rate for Russia was 33% (one point lower than 2020) and this, while not an impressive global reputation, is still a gradual improvement over the years compared to 22% in In 2014, Russia had the most supporters in Africa (42%), remaining at the bottom of the four surveyed (USA – 60% approval, China – 52%, Germany – 49%).
The attitude towards Washington on this indicator has improved in Bulgaria by 8 points – 40% support the US leadership policy, 35% do not agree, and 25% say they do not know or refuse to respond to the poll.
After spending billions of dollars in the region and the one-of-a-kind Russia-Africa summit years ago, the result remains well below 57%, Russia’s best achievement in 2011. The world record holder in approval (84%) is Mali, where last year increased increased military presence mainly through the private army “Wagner”.
Only Central Asian former Soviet republics are close to such results: Kyrgyzstan (76%), Uzbekistan (69%), and Kazakhstan (55%). Traditionally, Serbs are among the biggest supporters of Vladimir Putin’s regime (68%), slightly behind the Mongols (73%).
In Europe, where Russia earns hundreds of billions of euros each year, and leaders and oligarchs, as well as their propagandists, own property and send relatives, approval is the lowest in the world at 22%. After the annexation of Crimea, it had fallen to 14%.
The same level is among NATO countries, wherein 2013 disapproval was 44%, jumping to 67% after the secession of part of Ukraine and slowly falling in seven years to 57% last year. In Sweden, Denmark and Lithuania, it is even worse for Putin – less than one in ten people like his country as a world leader.
Before he attacked it, even in Ukraine there was a tendency to compensate for the failure of 2014 in the approval. To a level of 12% in 2021, “which was almost certainly wiped out by the invasion.” “The low levels of approval of Russia’s world leadership have probably made it easier for other countries to start isolating the country from the global economy after the invasion began,” Gallup said. This is especially likely in Europe, regardless of its energy dependence, the authors added.
The United States, challenged by Vladimir in late 2021 and leading the invasion of Ukraine with propaganda that Washington’s puppets rule there, had a damaged reputation on the eve of the war (falling from 49% to 43% since August 2021 alone). by the end of the year among respondents in 70 countries). The reason is the accelerated and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. In 2021, Germany was the world’s leading reputation as an example of leadership policy. This is the situation since 2016 when Donald Trump entered the White House.
President Joe Biden has reversed this trend (45% approval for him personally in 116 countries versus 30% for Trump in his final year) but not fast enough to take his country’s image up.
Germany and the United States have shown unprecedented “soft power” around the world and were in a far better position at the start of Russian aggression than China, which remained in a group in Russia around the 1930s. percent. Especially for Germany, the approval of its world leadership was 50% (compared to 52% in 2020)
The benevolent attitude, especially among NATO countries, may have helped Biden unite the alliance in response to the Russian invasion. But he will have to continue to rely on such support if the war drags on. Whatever happens in this crisis “It has the potential to undermine or strengthen the rest of Biden’s mandate and shape the new world order,” Gallup wrote.
A study by another agency (Pew Research Center), conducted a month after the start of the invasion among Americans, showed a dramatic deterioration in Russia’s image. Seven out of ten respondents already consider themselves an enemy of the United States. In January, this figure was 41%.
At the same time, there is practically no difference between Democrats and Republicans – 72% of the former and 69% of the latter think so. The March 21-27 poll found only 7% of the US population in favor of Russia and 6% in favor of Vladimir Putin. The popularity of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is 72%.
Among Americans, their views on NATO are also improving – 67% have shown approval for the organization, an increase of 61% in 2021. Even more (69%) are convinced that the United States benefits from being a member of the Atlantic Pact.
