Countries and world leaders

Confidence in world leaders

Australians have the highest levels of confidence in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (included in the Lowy Institute Poll for the first time), who captured global attention for his leadership of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion. Seven in ten Australians (72%) say they have either ‘some’ or ‘a lot’ of confidence in Zelenskyy, the same as in recently sworn-in New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. More Australians express ‘a lot of confidence’ in Zelenskyy (31%) than they do in any of the ten other leaders listed.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are the next most highly ranked leaders, with 64% of Australians saying they have ‘some’ or ‘a lot’ of confidence in each.

Confidence in US President Joe Biden remains steady at 59%, although this is ten points lower than 2021, the year he was inaugurated. Confidence in UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (63%) is marginally higher than in his predecessor Boris Johnson (59% in 2022).

Echoing the decline in Australians’ trust in China in recent years, confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping remains low at 11%. The only leaders in whom Australians have less confidence are Russian President Vladimir Putin (7%) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (3%).

Countries and world leaders
Confidence in world leaders

Question

Here is a list of political leaders. For each, please indicate how much confidence you have in the leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs — a lot of confidence, some confidence, not too much confidence or no confidence at all.

100%
50%
0%
50%
100%

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

French President Emmanuel Macron

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

US President Joe Biden

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Indonesian President Joko Widodo

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Russian President Vladimir Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un