DUSHANBE, April 24, 2015, Asia-Plus — According to the findings of Gallup”s report —
Rating World Leaders: What People Worldwide Think of the U.S., China, Russia, the EU and Germany
— on the status of how the world rates the leadership of five of the world”s major powers, residents of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan soured on the West’s leadership last year.
The report that was released on April 21 notes that Russia in 2014 earned the lowest approval ratings globally for the eighth consecutive year and posted the highest disapproval ratings it has received to date. U.S. leadership received the highest approval rating in the world, with the median 45% approval topping ratings of the leadership of the European Union, Germany, Russia and China — as it has most years since 2009.
For the past six years, the U.S. has reportedly typically received the highest approval ratings and Russia the lowest. But what the trend line does not show is that countries affiliated with the West, particularly NATO countries, soured on Russia dramatically. And, at the same time, Russians and people in many of its former republics — chiefly Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — all felt much more negatively about the leadership of the U.S., the EU and Germany, according to the report.
High disapproval of Russia”s leadership was centralized in Western countries. Many EU member countries and Canada reported their highest disapproval ratings of Russia”s leadership since the beginning of Gallup tracking. In fact, the nine countries with the highest disapproval ratings of Russia are all in Europe.
Russians, in turn, largely feel the same way about the leadership of the EU, U.S. and Germany. Russians gave the U.S. and the EU the lowest approval ratings in the world and the highest disapproval ratings.
But even as relations frayed with the West, Russians looked East with more favor. Russians” approval of China”s leadership jumped to a record 42%, likely reflecting the $400 billion gas deal the country inked with China in May 2014.
The report notes that the deteriorating leadership ratings between the West and Russia reflect the tense divisions over the Ukraine crisis in the last year.
