Russian President Vladimir Putin is more trusted around the globe than President Donald Trump, according to a recent poll.
Pew Research Center canvassed 36 countries and found that more than half of the countries had more confidence in Putin than they did Trump— including Italy, Spain, France, Japan, and Germany.
Germany, a close American ally in modern times, in particular, had very little confidence in Trump: Only 19 percent of people polled said they had confidence in Trump to “do the right thing regarding world affairs.” On the other hand, Israel had a very positive view of Trump, with 56 percent of people polled saying they had confidence in the president.
Some countries, such as Australia, Canada, and the United States had marginally higher confidence in Trump than they did Putin.
The survey, taken from Feb. 16 to May 8, was conducted before Trump signed a bill he had openly criticized that escalated sanctions against Russia for the country’s meddling in the 2016 election.
Russia’s involvement in the presidential election is at the heart of an ongoing and sprawling investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The investigation, which is being conducted by both houses of Congress and the intelligence community, is looking into whether members of the Trump campaign worked with Russia against then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump has labeled the investigation a “witch hunt.” His son, Donald Trump Jr., and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were among several people on his campaign who met with a Russian lawyer in June who allegedly promised to deliver damaging information about Clinton. The meeting is seen as the first evidence that members of the Trump campaign were at least willing to work with Russian officials during the election.
You can read more about Pew’s poll here.
