Who is the most beloved leader?

An exclusive poll conducted by Ipsos for Euronews (based in France) gave an unexpected answer: Nearly half of Europeans surveyed have a positive view of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The poll was conducted with nearly 26,000 respondents across 18 EU member states ahead of the European Parliament elections taking place on June 6-9.

The survey, the first conducted in Europe, found that 47% of respondents had a “positive” view of Mr Zelensky while 32% had a “negative” view.

Meanwhile, 21% said they “don’t know enough” about the Ukrainian president, who has dominated international media for more than two years and has traveled across the continent to drum up support for his country.

This makes Mr Zelensky the most popular leader of the eight European leaders surveyed by Ipsos, but the Ukrainian president also has the most volatile scores across participating countries.

In the Nordic region and the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, Mr. Zelensky received the highest “positive” scores: 81% in Finland, 74% in Sweden, 72% in Denmark and Portugal, 64% in Spain.

In contrast, more than half of respondents in Hungary (60%), Greece (57%) and Bulgaria (56%) have “negative” views of the Ukrainian leader.

Other countries with more “negative” than “positive” ratings include Slovakia (50% to 26%), Austria (47% to 33%), Italy (41% to 32%) and the Czech Republic (37% to 36%). While Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala are staunch supporters of Ukraine, the public in both countries appears to dislike Mr Zelensky.

In Germany, the top EU military donor to Kiev, 41% have a “positive” view and 36% have a “negative” view of the Ukrainian president.

In countries where farmers are angry about the influx of cheap grain from Ukraine, the results are quite surprising: 49% of comments are “positive” and 40% “negative” in Romania, 57% are “positive” and 24% are “negative” in Poland.

In addition to the Ukrainian president, the exclusive Euronews/Ipsos poll also provides insights into how Europeans feel about other prominent leaders on the continent.

French President Emmanuel Macron came in second in the popularity rankings, with 41% of respondents saying they had a “positive” view of him compared to 34% who had a “negative” view. Unsurprisingly, the French were the least popular with Macron, with 62% choosing “negative” and just 28% choosing “positive.”

But Mr Macron is quite popular in Romania (57%), Greece (55%), Germany (53%), Denmark (52%) and the Netherlands (50%).

As for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, 38% of respondents said they “don’t know enough” about the man leading the bloc’s largest economy, while 29% expressed a “positive” view and 33% expressed a “negative” view.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suffered similar results to the German chancellor, with 37% of respondents claiming they “don’t know enough” about the populist leader, 48% having a “negative” view and just 15% having a “positive” assessment.

The Euronews/Ipsos poll also looked at Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the highest “positive” ratings in Bulgaria (37%), Greece (28%), Slovakia (22%) and Hungary (20%) .

Minh Duc (According to Euronews)

Source