World leaders and countries

Confidence in world leaders

Australians’ dramatic decline in trust in Russia in 2022 corresponds with many Australians losing confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin. Only 6% of Australians say they have ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ confidence in Putin to do the right thing regarding world affairs, which marks a ten-point decline since 2021. This places him at the same level as North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, who also inspires confidence in only 5% of Australians.

Only 11% of Australians say they have a lot or some confidence in President Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs. This figure has halved since 2020 (22%) and has fallen by 32 points since 2018 (43%).

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tops the list of global leaders again, with 87% expressing confidence in her (though this has fallen four points from 2021). This aligns with New Zealand’s retention of its traditional place at the top of the annual ‘feelings thermometer’, ranking again as the country about which Australians feel most warmly.

Despite the bilateral tensions between Australia and France, the majority of Australians (67%) express confidence in French President Emmanuel Macron. Australians also hold high levels of confidence in Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, with 65% saying they have confidence in him. Six in ten Australians (59%) have confidence in Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, which is unchanged from 2021.

While trust and warmth towards the United States have increased in 2022, fewer Australians express confidence in US President Joe Biden than in 2021. Six in ten Australians (58%) say they have some or a lot of confidence in President Biden, an 11-point decrease from his inauguration year of 2021. This remains 28 points above the confidence expressed in former President Donald Trump in 2020 (30%).

World leaders and countries
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%

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

French President Emmanuel Macron

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

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