Social network X/Twitter is particularly popular in the United States, and as of February 2025, the microblogging service had an audience reach of 103.9 million users in the country. Japan and the India were ranked second and third with more than 70 million and 25 million users respectively. Global Twitter usage As of the second quarter of 2021, X/Twitter had 206 million monetizable daily active users worldwide. The most-followed Twitter accounts include figures such as Elon Musk, Justin Bieber and former U.S. president Barack Obama. X/Twitter and politics X/Twitter has become an increasingly relevant tool in domestic and international politics. The platform has become a way to promote policies and interact with citizens and other officials, and most world leaders and foreign ministries have an official Twitter account. Former U.S. president Donald Trump used to be a prolific Twitter user before the platform permanently suspended his account in January 2021. During an August 2018 survey, 61 percent of respondents stated that Trump's use of Twitter as President of the United States was inappropriate.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States amounted to 27.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, making it the largest economy in the G20 and the largest worldwide. China was the second largest economy in that year, with a GDP valued at 17.8 trillion U.S. dollars. It is worth noticing that while the U.S. GDP was forecast to increase by around five trillion U.S. dollars until 2027, China's GDP is forecast to grow by around 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars in the same time.

Europeans' opinions of the United States of America have undergone several noticeable shifts since the turn of the millennium. While in the early years of the 2000s the United States' reputation took a hit due to many Europeans' unfavorable opinion on the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, they subsequently improved following Barack Obama's election in 2008. Again, following Donald Trump's election in 2016, favorability dipped in Europe, but had subsequently improved during the Biden presidency. While public opinion in the five largest Western European countries tends to move in tandem on this issue, there is a noticeable difference between countries, with Germany and Spain having the lowest of the U.S., while Italy and the United Kingdom tend to have more favorable opinions. Low-points in the European-U.S. relationship A low-point for favorability of the U.S. in Europe came in March 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, as many Europeans saw the United States' actions as illegitimate due to the lack of a United Nations Security Council resolution to authorize military action. The reputation of the U.S. swiftly moved back to a more moderate stance in European countries up until 2009. Another low-point in Europeans' favorability of the U.S. occurred in 2017, following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president - Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and his strong criticism of the foreign and security policies of European countries, particularly Germany, caused Europeans' favorability of the United States to plummet during the four years of his presidency. Many Europeans have come to view the Republican Party as being further right from the mainstream of European politics than the Democratic Party, who tend to promote politicies that are considered to be in the center-ground in Europe Pro-American sentiment more common under Democratic presidents The favorability of the United States in Europe has a clear political component to it, as the U.S. tends to be more in favor when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office, rather than a Republican. Europeans reported much more positive views directly after the election of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008, with the share of respondents reporting favorable opinions jumping by over 30 percent in some countries. This is particularly remarkable considering that this came during the global financial crisis, which had many of its root causes laying in the activities of American banks and financiers on Wall Street. Obama's promise to scale down the United States' military interventions in the Middle East, as well as his general reputation as being a president of change landed well with many Europeans. A similar effect can be seen in 2021, as Europeans reacted positively to the election of Joe Biden over the then-incumbent Donald Trump in November 2020.

South Africa is the sixth African country with the largest population, counting approximately 60.5 million individuals as of 2021. In 2023, the largest city in South Africa was Cape Town. The capital of Western Cape counted 3.4 million inhabitants, whereas South Africa's second largest city was Durban (eThekwini Municipality), with 3.1 million inhabitants. Note that when observing the number of inhabitants by municipality, Johannesburg is counted as largest city/municipality of South Africa.

From four provinces to nine provinces

Before Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, the country had four provinces, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal and 10 “homelands” (also called Bantustans). The four larger regions were for the white population while the homelands for its black population. This system was dismantled following the new constitution of South Africa in 1996 and reorganized into nine provinces. Currently, Gauteng is the most populated province with around 15.9 million people residing there, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 11.68 million inhabiting the province. As of 2022, Black African individuals were almost 81 percent of the total population in the country, while colored citizens followed amounting to around 5.34 million.

A diverse population

Although the majority of South Africans are identified as Black, the country’s population is far from homogenous, with different ethnic groups usually residing in the different “homelands”. This can be recognizable through the various languages used to communicate between the household members and externally. IsiZulu was the most common language of the nation with around a quarter of the population using it in- and outside of households. IsiXhosa and Afrikaans ranked second and third with roughly 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

In November 2024, the main problem for the country detected by the population in Argentina was poverty with an overall 38 percent answering it as one of the main problems, followed by low wages, crime, and job shortage. During this survey, other issues like climate change dropped to the bottom of the list, with less than one percent of people mentioning them as problem. Inflation in Argentina For the first month of 2023, one of the categories with the highest consumer price index (CPI) was clothing and footwear recording an inflation rate of 120.6. Some basic basket products also recorded high year-on-year price increases, like the food and non-alcoholic drinks sector recorded between 50 and 70 index points increases from January to June 2022. Overall, the price increase has been exponential when considering previous years, for example, the health services industry recorded an increase of 1,231.5 points in approximately six years. Crime in Argentina Other most common worries for the Argentinian population were crime and violence. In 2020, the country registered around 2,416 cases of intentional murders and, in 2022, approximately 212 femicides. Nonetheless, Argentina ranks as one of the Latin American countries with the lowest homicide rate, only with more than its western neighbor, Chile. Property crimes are actually the main concern for the country, only in 2021 more than a quarter of a million thefts were registered.

In October 2024, nearly seven out of ten Ukrainians approved of the activities of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the president of the country. The approval rating increased from the previous survey in February 2024. Zelenskyy's popularity within the country was significantly higher in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, than in 2021. Zelenskyy became Ukraine’s president in the 2019 election, having gained over 73 percent of the votes. Public confidence in Zelenskyy worldwide In most Western countries, residents had confidence in Zelenskyy’s actions regarding global affairs, with particularly large shares of respondents expressing it in Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, and Japan. However, in some European Union (EU) members like Hungary and Greece, Zelenskyy’s confidence ratings were rather low. A similar trend was observed in Latin America, where the share of people confident in Zelenskyy ranged from 24 percent in Argentina to 33 percent in Brazil. The tone of news articles mentioning Zelenskyy declined due to the war Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, global news articles mentioning Zelenskyy have mostly concerned the war and thus have included words with a negative language tone. As a result, the sentiment score of online news articles containing the president’s name declined from -1.34 in 2021 to -2.94 in 2022. The tone was less negative in Brazil and Poland than on average worldwide.

Broadcast TV has been the largest recipient of political advertising spending in the United States. In the 2024 presidential elections, around *** billion U.S. dollars in ad buys were forecast to be devoted to the medium. On the other hand, digital video spending was forecast to amount to *** billion dollars, down from *** billion in 2022. Connected TV (CTV) was expected to add up to *** billion dollars. The 2024 U.S. presidential election was projected to drive an all-time high in political ad spending in the country. Digital is not to be discounted in the electoral race Despite broadcast TV’s might in the political ad arena, the trend towards digital media in political advertising keeps growing. For example, governmental and political advertisers registered by far the highest ad spending on Meta between November 2018 and April 2022, for a total of more than half a billion dollars. When considering political ad expenditures on Google, the top spender between 2018 and 2023 was the Biden for President group, investing more than **** million dollars in the measured period. Political ads are flush with cash, but struggle to win voter trust The American political advertising scene shows no sign of slowing down, with ad spending for the 2024 election cycle projected to surpass its predecessors. Despite the surge in investments, voter attention to ads remained aloof during the 2022 midterms, with ** percent of eligible voters saying they tend to tune out or ignore political ads. In addition to that, around ** percent of voters considered political advertising unethical, while nearly ** percent believed consumer data should never reach the hands of political advertisers.

According to a survey conducted in Chile in August 2023, Boric's government had one of the lowest approval rates since the president took office in March 2022. During that month, just below 23 percent of respondents approved the government. In addition, the age group that most approved of the Chilean president continues to be among those aged between 31 and 40 years old and those younger than that.

Economic challenges

Following a noteworthy economic expansion in 2021, the nation currently grapples with apprehensions centered around mounting government debt, an adverse economic trajectory, and a surge in unemployment rates. Stemming from an economic downturn, marked by a reduction in domestic demand and an uptick in inflation, the population harbors negative perceptions towards the present presidential administration. Adding to these challenges, the Chilean peso experiences pressure against the US dollar, while the current fiscal position displays a deficit, indicating greater outflows of funds compared to national earnings. Despite these concerns, the country is anticipated to experience prosperity in the forthcoming years.

Crime in Chile

Although Chile boasts the lowest homicide rate among its Latin American counterparts, crime continues to be a paramount concern for the nation's populace. A surge in violent crimes, particularly armed robberies and urban delinquency, transpired over the past year. This distressing trend even led to fatal incidents involving police officers on the streets. Furthermore, drug-related offenses have escalated, generating substantial issues that impact the broader population due to collateral disputes. Added to this is the erosion of public trust in entities meant to ensure safety, such as police forces and governmental positions, as corruption allegations have surfaced against them.