The world expressed their opinion on global leaders (read more here). What is the Spanish view? The classification, provided by Instituto DYM, varies in some cases, but not in its two major positions: the most positively valued leader is Pope Francis (net +57), as it receives a 74% approval and just a 17% rejection. After the head of the Catholic Church are left Macron (+27, for his 55% favour and 28% who are not convinced) and the German Chancellor (with balance +7), who received more criticism (50% of supports, 43% of unfavorable opinions) in Spain than in the rest of the world.
The rest of the leaders is on the negative side of the balance, to a greater or lesser extent. Narendra Modi (-10) is better off, because he is rated 20% well and another 30% rejects him, although in his case there is a great lack of knowledge among Spaniards (50%). Worse than the Indian Prime Minister, with the same negative balance of a -28, May and Netanyahu. The former accumulates more unfavourable opinion (55% of respondents do not like her) while 47% distance themselves from the Israeli premier.
An index of -33 is recorded by Xi Jinping, and a -41 for Rohaní. King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud is placed at -45. Putin is rejected by 71%, and only 19% support his work, so the balance is -52. Erdogan, not known for 30%, receives 62% of unfavour and barely 8% of support. At the end of the list, US President Trump: 80% of Spaniards see him negatively, only 14% like him and 6% do not know or do not answer.
The gap between Obama and Trump in Spain is much greater than at a global level: the jump is tremendous, from +49 of 2015 for the previous president to -66 of the current tenant of the White House. The rest of world leaders, in general, improve. Thus, Putin evolves from -63 to -52, and Macron is very well valued by the surveyed population: his +27 has little to do with Hollande’s -9. Merkel goes from a negative index (-29) to a positive index (+7). Modi advances (from -13 to -10), just like the Chinese president (his -50 two years ago becomes a -33), the Saudi monarch (from -47 to -45) and the Iranian president (the – 57 of 2015 moves to a -41). May is penalized in Spain, as in the rest of the planet: the balance of Cameron’s -1 worsens up to -28 for his successor in the UK.
Read the full article from “El Confidencial” at this link (Spanish version).