Surprise, Surprise: More People Around The World Trust Putin Than Trump

According to a Pew Research survey of citizens from 37 countries around the world, more people have confidence in Russian President Putin to “do the right thing regarding world affairs” than say the same about American President Donald Trump.

It’s not a terribly huge margin between the two men: 27 percent for Putin and 22 percent for Trump. But that pales in comparison to another world leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Forty-two percent of those surveyed have confidence in her.

But when you compare a democratically elected president to an autocrat like Putin, well, it’s not exactly flattering that people would pick the autocrat. That’s just how poorly Donald Trump is thought of around the world.

The Pew survey also details reasons why people don’t trust Trump. For most, it is his policy decisions, from withdrawing from international trade deals to rejected the Paris climate accord. Trump himself will likely not find any issue with this. After all, here is a sample of the speech he gave when withdrawing from the Paris accord:

“At what point does America get demeaned? At what point do they start laughing at us as a country? We want fair treatment for its citizens, and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be. They won’t be.”

And Trump supporters will cheer and applaud that. It plays right into the “America First” tagline that got him elected in the first place. But the real question is how is this attitude is going to affect Trump’s efforts on domestic economic policy, as well as diplomatic relations for years to come.

“America First” is just a slogan – words. Trade and international economic cooperation are vital for growth, both domestically and globally.

Trump may think that this posturing will make America look stronger in the eyes of the world. But the facts show that it just isn’t true.

And as a final caveat: when Obama left office he had a “confidence rating” of about 66 percent.

Watch a John Oliver special on the two men here (after the jump):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuRhVR3wZHA

Featured Image Via YouTube Video.