French, Germans, Italians Name Putin as 'Most Powerful World Leader' – Poll
The majority of respondents in Italy, Germany and France said they consider Russian President Vladimir Putin to be the most powerful world leader, with US President Donald Trump enjoying similar support in the United States and the UK, but coming in second in continental Europe.
During an opinion poll conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), over 5,000 respondents from Europe in the United States were asked the following question: "Whom do you consider to be the most powerful leader in the world right now?"
Over a third of respondents in France (34 percent), Germany (34 percent) and Italy (38 percent) answered "Vladimir Putin," with about a quarter of respondents in these three countries replying "Donald Trump."
In the United States and Britain, however, this trend has been reversed, with 43 percent of American and 33 percent of British respondents favoring Donald Trump, while 23 American and 26 percent of British respondents named Putin.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ranked third in terms of popularity among the respondents, with 19 percent of Germans and 17 percent of Frenchmen choosing his name as their answer.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in 2015 made a fateful decision by welcoming a massive influx of refugees from the Middle East into Europe, garnered the sympathy of 13 percent of Italian and 12 percent of German respondents, with less than 10 percent of British, American and French respondents echoing this sentiment.
Only 5 percent of Frenchmen and 2 percent of Americans mentioned French President Emmanuel Macron, with 1 percent of respondents in each of the three other countries sharing their opinion.
Likewise, only 7 percent of British and 5 percent of American respondents named UK Prime Minister Theresa May as the world’s most powerful leader.
Other world leaders, such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Indian President Narendra Modi and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were mentioned by up to about 1-2 percent of the respondents in each country.
The survey was conducted among 5,029 respondents from France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States. All of the respondents were at least 18 years old, and the margin of error did not exceed 3.1 percent.
- Source : Sputnik
