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Confidence in world leaders

Stable from 2023

In 2024, 80% of Australians had no confidence at all in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to do the right thing regarding world affairs.

Question Confidence in world leaders

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.

Responses from 2024.

  1. 100%
  2. 50%
  3. 0%
  4. 50%
  5. 100%
French President Emmanuel Macron
7
14
46
15
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
13
16
40
20
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
11
24
32
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Chinese President Xi Jinping
46
29
10
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Russian President Vladimir Putin
76
12
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
80
11
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  • No confidence at all
  • Not too much confidence
  • Some confidence
  • A lot of confidence
Total
All groups

2026 observation

Only 21% of Australians say they trust Donald Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs, the lowest level of confidence in any US president in the history of Lowy Institute polling. Vice President JD Vance fares no better, with only 20% of Australians saying they have confidence in him as a world leader.

Confidence in China’s leader Xi Jinping remains low but has risen four points since last year’s Poll to 20%, in line with Australians’ modest rise in trust in China. Only 4% of Australians say they have confidence in North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, making him the world leader who inspires the least amount of confidence, followed closely by Russian president Vladimir Putin (8%).

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney inspires the greatest confidence (66%) of all world leaders, with New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon (65%) a close second. Similarly high levels of confidence are expressed in Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (62%) and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi (62%).

Confidence in French president Emmanuel Macron sits at 59%, within the margin of error from last year’s result (61%). There were losses for Australian and British leaders. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rating fell by seven points to 53%, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s fell nine points to 50%.

Confidence in Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto held steady on last year at 29%, and fell three points for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, from 35% to 32%.

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