Confidence in world leaders
The decline in trust in China corresponds with falling levels of confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping. Only 30% of Australians have ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ confidence in President Xi to do the right thing in world affairs, a 13-point drop since 2018 (43%).
However, confidence in President Xi is still higher than in US President Donald Trump. Only 25% of Australians (down from 30% in 2018) have either ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ confidence in President Trump ‘to do the right thing regarding world affairs’, compared with 30% saying the same for President Xi. Among the 223 younger respondents (aged 18–29 years), none (0%) expressed ‘a lot of confidence’ in President Trump, and 66% of that age group said they had ‘no confidence at all’ in the US President. More than half of adult women (52%) have ‘no confidence at all’ in President Trump, compared with 39% of adult men.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tops this list of global leaders, with 88% of Australians expressing confidence in her to do the right thing in world affairs. While Australians tend to regard New Zealand and its leaders warmly, it should be noted that the Christchurch massacre took place during the fieldwork for the 2019 Poll.
The next ranked leaders are Australians — with 58% of respondents expressing confidence in Prime Minister Scott Morrison and 52% in then Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. In 2018, a higher proportion (63%) of Australians said they had confidence in former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to do the right thing in world affairs.
Australians are more wary of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, with a third (34%) expressing confidence in him. Even fewer Australians (25%) express confidence in Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Only one in five Australians (21%) have confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin and 7% in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in results statistically unchanged from 2018.