World leaders and countries

Confidence in political leaders

In 2020, declining in trust in China corresponds with falling levels of confidence in China’s leader Xi Jinping. Only 22% of Australians have either a lot or some confidence in President Xi ‘to do the right thing in world affairs’, an eight-point drop from 2019, and 21 points lower than his result in 2018. In 2019, more Australians expressed confidence in China’s President Xi than in US President Donald Trump. But this has reversed in 2020, despite the widely-publicised US House of Representatives vote to impeach President Trump. Only one in three Australians (30%) have confidence in President Trump, but this is five points up from 2019, and eight points ahead of Xi Jinping. Only China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un receive fewer votes of confidence from Australians than President Trump. For the second year in a row, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tops Australians’ list of global leaders, with 87% of Australians saying they either have some or a lot of confidence in her to do the right thing in world affairs. Almost three-quarters of Australians (73%) express confidence in Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an increase of seven points from 2018. Six in ten Australians express confidence in Prime Minister Scott Morrison (60%) and in the leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese (58%). Levels of confidence in Prime Minister Morrison have not shifted significantly from his 2019 result (58%), while Mr Albanese’s result was six points higher than former Opposition leader Bill Shorten’s result last year (52%). Only 55% of Australians say they have confidence in UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a result which may reflect Australians’ views towards Brexit, as demonstrated in past Lowy Institute polling. Prime Minister Johnson inspires confidence in fewer Australians than his predecessor, former Prime Minister Teresa May, did in 2018 (68%).

World leaders and countries
Confidence in political leaders

Question

For each, tell me how much confidence you have in each leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs.

100%
50%
0%
50%
100%

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Australian Opposition leader Anthony Albanese

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Indonesian President Joko Widodo

US President Donald Trump

Chinese President Xi Jinping

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un