Olaf Scholz became the chancellor of Germany on December 8th 2021, and by January 14th 2022, he had an approval rating of 65 percent. This rating peaked in March 2022 at 73 percent. However, as of January 2025, only 31 percent of people in Germany thought he was doing well in his position. In fact, since August 2023, more people have consistently perceived the Chancellor as doing a bad job than a good one. Global views on Olaf Scholz In Germany the population seems to be dissatisfied with the decisions that Olaf Scholz has made, this sentiment seems to be shared elsewhere. In a survey conducted worldwide, around 20 percent of respondents had confidence in him. On the other side, approximately 74 percent disapproved of him as a global leader. When it comes to how Scholz is talked about by online newspapers in the U.S., the Chancellor had a sentiment score of -2.12 in 2023, and this was an increase compared to 2022. Furthermore, he was also scoring higher than Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky, despite higher confidence in them based on the survey mentioned here first. Political interest Germans are generally interested in politics, yet as in all countries, some people are very passionate about politics and some less so. Among the younger generation in Germany, around half of people came into contact with politics in their regular media consumption and almost a third said that it was often a topic with friends and family. Young people can become especially invested in politics because the decisions that are made by the government will impact their futures and so it is important to them that they have a say. In more recent years, social media has begun to play a role in politics. For those frustrated by politics, social media can give them a voice, especially if they feel their concerns are not being heard by those in power. In addition, on a more practical level, social media allows news about current events to be spread around the world in seconds. For the foreseeable future, social media will likely continue to have an influential role, especially among the younger generations.

In June 2025, 86 percent of Russians approved of the activities of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The popularity level was nine percentage points higher than in September 2022, when the figure declined following the announcement of a partial mobilization in the country. After Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February 2022, the approval rating increased. During the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, the figure declined. What has shifted Putin’s approval rating? Since his first presidential term started in 2000, Vladimir Putin's highest approval rating has been measured at 88 percent, when he was the country's prime minister. In 2008, as a result of the war with Georgia, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2014, Russia annexed the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, viewing it as a historic reunification. Despite Western sanctions that were imposed on the country in response the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the approval rating remained high over the following years. In February and March 2019, among the reasons behind the decline in approval were a pension reform and a retirement age hike. Constitutional amendments before the 2024 presidential election During his state of-the-nation speech in January 2020, Vladimir Putin suggested amendments to the Russian Constitution, some of which are aimed at restructuring the executive power within the country’s administration. Regarding the amendments, 47 percent of Russians believed that they were designed to prepare the political system for the period after 2024, allowing Putin to stay in power in a role different from a president. In March 2020, an amendment was proposed to the Constitution to reset the previous presidential terms of Putin, allowing him to stay as a president until 2036. The amendments were approved in an all-Russian voting with nearly 78 percent of Russians supporting them.

Of the 22 global leaders listed, Narendra Modi of India was the politician with the highest domestic approval rating, at almost 80 percent, in contrast to less than one fifth of respondents who disapproved of his leadership. The Indian Primer Minister was reelected in a general election in the spring of 2024, but his party lost its majority in parliament. Meanwhile, recently inaugurated U.S. president Donald Trump saw his approval rating drop below 50 percent this month. Emmanuel Macron of France is the leader of a major economy with the worst approval rating.

Topics in this survey include public figure approval ratings, the most important issues facing people in Arkansas, and more. Demographic information includes county of residence, educational attainment, race, political party affiliation, ideological orientation, household income, religious preference, marital status, number of people who live in the household, intent to vote in the 2010 elections, year of birth, and gender

The "rally 'round the flag" effect---a short-term boost in a political leader's popularity during an interstate political dispute---was first proposed by Mueller (1970) more than half a century ago. However, there is no scholarly consensus on its empirical validity and the circumstances under which the effect becomes most prominent. In this paper, based on a natural experimental design, we analyze large-scale worldwide surveys of 34,118 responses and causally identify the effects of 46 militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) on the approval ratings of political leaders in 27 countries. We find that MIDs, on average, decrease public support for national leaders. However, the public backlash could be attenuated depending on theoretically relevant contexts. Our finding implies that political leaders cannot rely on MIDs for public support increases, as they are generally penalized for such decisions.

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.

"Topics in this survey include public figure approval ratings, trust in the Arkansas government, the most important issues facing people in Arkansas, current issues such as gun control rules and abortion laws and opinion of life in Arkansas. The survey also includes opinions on current issues such as attitudes towards gays and lesbians, same-sex marriage, and school quality. Demographic information includes educational attainment, race, political party affiliation, household income, marital s tatus, number of people who live in the household, and gender."

Topics in this survey include public figure approval ratings, the most important issues facing people in Arkansas, satisfaction with police protection, health care and hospital services, public libraries, public schools, cultural activities, job opportunities, services for seniors, condition of roads and highways, quality of parks and recreation facilities, colleges and universities, public welfare system, and quality of state and local government services. Other topics include effect of the large number of new state legislators, state sales tax on food, legalization of casino gambling, state and local taxes, gun control, abortion, Constitutional Amendment to make burning the American flag illegal, Y2K computer concerns, and quality of life and financial situation. Demographic information includes county of residence, educational attainment, race, political party affiliation, ideological orientation, political activities, household income, religious preference, marital status, number of people who live in the household, year of birth, and gender.

This poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to comment on what they thought was the most important problem facing the country, and to give their approval rating of George Bush with respect to his handling of the presidency, foreign policy, and the economy. Questions were posed regarding respondents' vote intentions for the 1992 presidential election, their opinions of potential 1992 presidential candidates, the likelihood of their voting in either a Republican or Democratic presidential primary or caucus, their candidate preferences for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, and issues presidential candidates should emphasize. Those surveyed were asked whether most members of Congress deserved reelection, whether particular representatives deserved reelection, and whether Bill Clinton had told the truth when answering charges about his personal life. Questions on the Bush administration evaluated its performance in dealing with illegal drugs, education, the economy, and the development of policies. Respondents were asked whether Bush, Clinton, and Ross Perot were liberal, moderate, or conservative, whether they had strong qualities of leadership, and who had more honesty and integrity. The poll also posed a series of questions about the media including whether the names of people accused of crimes and those who were victims of crimes should be made public, whether the media had gone too far in disclosing details of presidential candidates' private lives, and whether the media had been harder on Bush and Clinton than on the other presidential candidates. Respondents were also asked whether the government was in such bad shape that it needed a strong leader who would take charge, whether the federal government should run like a business with one person in charge, and whether it was better for people to take the law into their own hands rather than wait for the government to act. Those surveyed were asked if there was a connection between what a politician says and what he or she does after being elected, whether who was elected made any difference, whether the government would work better if all new people were elected, and whether a politician's methods mattered as long as he or she managed to get the right thing done. Additional questions dealt with the state of the economy, drug testing in the workplace, the respondent's financial situation, organized labor, the national economy, big business, the First Lady's working outside the White House, television news coverage of the presidential campaign, the most important quality the next president should have, call-in polls and programs on radio and television, and the amount of attention the government and Congress pay to what people think. Background information on respondents includes involvement in a labor union, sex, race, age, education, religious preference, family income, political orientation, and party preference.

A recent survey indicates that the majority of the Italian population does not have a positive image of PM Giorgia Meloni after more than two years in charge. Specifically, 51 percent of respondents disapprove of her government, whereas only 42 percent think positively about her performance. Foreign policy and the management of the post-COVID-19 recovery plan are among the policy areas in which Meloni collects the largest support. Italian women in politics Giorgia Meloni is the first female Italian head of government since the unification of the country in 1861. She was appointed by president Sergio Mattarella after that the center-right coalition won the general election in September 2022 and her party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia - FdI) obtained one fourth of the votes. However, the representation of women in Italian political institutions remains low. In the past legislature (2018-2022), only 36 percent of the members of the parliament were women, and data worsen when considering the number of female officials in ministerial positions, which stay below 30 percent of the total. Moreover, in a survey conducted in 2021 among young Italians, one third of the respondents believed that women and girls are suffering more violence and discrimination in politics rather than in any other sector. Rise of the Brothers of Italy party The Prime Minister’s party was founded in 2012 and in its first years it obtained disappointing results. However, since 2021, a constant growth started and the party collected more and more consensus due to its hard opposition to Mario Draghi's national unity government. The results of the 2022 elections confirmed the right-wing party as the nation’s most voted political association, with 26 percent of the votes. In 2024, FdI continued growing and reached almost 30 percent of the popular consensus. This performance highlights an impressive success of Brothers of Italy under Meloni’s leadership. In fact, a series of European Election surveys conducted in 2019 reported her party winning only 4.4 percent of the voters’ consent. Hence, in five years, the leader increased her popular consensus by almost 25 percent.

Abstract

The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The survey, which started in 1981, seeks to use the most rigorous, high-quality research designs in each country. The WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire. The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents. Moreover the WVS is the only academic study covering the full range of global variations, from very poor to very rich countries, in all of the world’s major cultural zones. The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world. Thousands of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists and economists have used these data to analyze such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being. These data have also been widely used by government officials, journalists and students, and groups at the World Bank have analyzed the linkages between cultural factors and economic development.

Geographic coverage

The Survey covers Turkey.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Universe

The WVS for Turkey covers national population aged 18 years and over, for both sexes.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

1st stage: Random selection of statistical blocks of 150 households each. 2nd stage: Random selection of addresses within blocks. 3nd stage: Random selection of the individual to be interviewed within the household.

Remarks about sampling: NUTS-1 level was used for stratification (selection of blocks). There are 12 NUTS-1 regions in Turkey.

The sample size for Turkey is N=1346 and includes national population aged 18 years and over, for both sexes.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

50 interviews were carried out to test the translations of new questions in the questionnaire. These 50 respondents included males and females, people of different educational levels and different SES. V175 and V176 both foreign aid questions. Reason(s) not included: The questions, irrelevant in the Turkish context, were omitted with the approval of the Executive Committee.

Response rate

Remarks about non-response: Response rate, after substitutions, was 74%.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in the second week of December 2024, only ** percent of respondents approved of President Yoon Suk Yeol's performance in office, while ** percent disapproved. These figures represent his lowest approval and highest disapproval ratings since taking office. Public opinion on President Yoon’s policies President Yoon's approval ratings began a downward trend shortly after he won the presidential election in March 2022. Since then, his policies – particularly in economic management and public appointments – have faced widespread criticism. According to a survey conducted in December 2024, more than ** percent of respondents disapproved of his economic policies and expressed dissatisfaction with his government appointments. Impeachment of President Yoon The short-lived declaration of martial law and deployment of armed troops to the National Assembly on December 3, 2024, marked a critical turning point in Yoon’s presidency. This unprecedented move, the first of its kind in 45 years, sparked outrage across the country. Subsequently, the National Assembly passed an impeachment bill on December 14, 2024, suspending Yoon from office. On April 4, 2025, South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the National Assembly's vote, resulting in Yoon's immediate removal from office. Meanwhile, separate investigations into insurrection charges resulted in Yoon's arrest on January 15, 2025, making him the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested. Just days later, on January 26, Yoon was formally indicted on charges of insurrection. On March 7, 2025, the Seoul Central District Court canceled his arrest warrant, and Yoon was released from detention the following day.

This poll, fielded July 9-12, 2009, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling the presidency, foreign policy, the situation in Iraq, health care and the economy, whether they thought things in the country were on the right track, their rating of the national economy and whether they thought the economy would get better. Respondents were also asked questions about the economic recession including how long they thought it would last, whether they believed the stimulus package made the economy better, whether the stimulus package would make the economy better in the future, whether the federal government should spend money to stimulate the national economy, whether it was acceptable to raise the deficit to create jobs and stimulate growth, and whether the federal budget deficit affected the respondent's family's financial situation. Several questions about health care were asked including whether President Obama would be able to bring about significant health care reform in his first term, whether respondents would favor government administered health insurance plans, and whether the respondent would consider public health care that anyone could join at any age. Opinions were sought about Sarah Palin, whether respondents heard about her resignation as Governor of Alaska, the reason she resigned, whether she would have the ability to be an effective president, whether the media was harder on her than other political figures, and whether respondents thought she would run for president in 2012. Other topics that were covered included, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, North Korea's development of weapons, Michael Jackson, the United States space program, marijuana, Barack Obama's Supreme Court Justice nominations, how the federal government should use taxpayer's money, how the deficit should be handled, personal finances, and job security. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, marital status, education level, household income, political party affiliation, political philosophy, perceived social class, religious preference, whether the respondent considered themselves to be a born-again Christian, and voter registration status and participation history.

Topics in this survey include public figure approval ratings, the most important issues facing people in Arkansas, and ballot issues including removal of the sales tax on food and medication, reforming the executive branch, moving to a secret ballot, and stiffening penalties for animal cruelty. Other issues include gun control, abortion, tougher laws to limit immigration into the U.S. or into Arkansas, local growth and economic development, education reform and financing education reform, and quality of life and financial situation. Demographic information includes county of residence, educational attainment, race, political party affiliation, ideological orientation, household income, religious preference, marital status, voter registration status and intent to vote in the November 2002 elections, number of people who live in the household, year of birth, and gender.

Direction of Country | RealClearPolling

BackgroundWhile COVID-19 has had a wide-ranging impact on individuals and societies, persons with disabilities are uniquely affected largely due to secondary health conditions and challenges in adhering to protective measures. However, research on COVID-19 and vaccine acceptance has primarily focused on the general population and healthcare workers but has specifically not targeted PwDs, who are more vulnerable within societies. Hence, this study assessed PwDs knowledge of COVID-19 and factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among PwDs in the Atwima Mponua District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Respondents were sampled systematically and data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed with STATA version 16.0. Descriptive analysis was done using means and proportions. The chi-square test and Logistic regression were used to assess Covid-19 vaccine acceptance among the respondents.Results250 PwDs were recruited for the study. A higher proportion of the respondents were females, physically impaired, and between 30–50 years. The majority (74%) of the PwDs had average knowledge about Covid-19. Factors such as age, educational level and type of disability were significantly associated with PwDs’ knowledge of COVID-19. The acceptance rate for COVID-19 among PwDs was 71.2%. Age, religion, knowledge of COVID-19, and educational level were significantly associated with Covid-19 vaccine acceptance. Persons with disabilities with low and average knowledge of COVID-19 were 95% and 65%, respectively, less likely to accept the vaccine compared to those with high knowledge of COVID-19 (AOR = 0.05, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.21; AOR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.12, 1.03). Older people and those with higher education were more likely to accept the vaccine compared to younger people and those with no or less education.ConclusionPersons with disabilities have average knowledge of COVID-19 and a greater percentage of them were willing to accept the vaccine. The study identified age, religion, knowledge of COVID-19, and educational level as contributing factors to their willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. This suggest that PwDs will lean positive toward COVID-19 vaccine programs and as such, vaccination programs should target them.

In 2018, before Nayib Bukele was sworn in as president of El Salvador, approximately 22 percent of the people who participated in a survey in the Central American country stated that they approved of Salvador Sánchez Cerén's administration, the then president in office, up from 17 percent registered a year earlier.

According to a survey conducted just over a month after her defeat in the 2024 presidential election, approximately ** percent of surveyed Americans had a favorable opinion of Vice President Harris. Of those, ** percent had a very favorable opinion of Harris.

As of the third quarter of 2025, 16 percent of people in Great Britain indicated that they liked the current U.S. President Donald Trump, unchanged from the previous quarter. In this provided time period, Donald Trump was viewed most positively at the start of 2025. By contrast, Trump was the least popular in the first quarters of 2021 and 2022, when just 14 percent of people said they liked him. Trump returns to power in 2025 Despite indications of a close contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Donald Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election quite comfortably, winning 312 electoral votes to Harris' 226. Like in the previous U.S. election in 2020, a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden looked certain until Biden announced his decision to step down in favor of his Vice President Kamala Harris in July 2024. Earlier in the year, Donald Trump, saw off his rivals in the Republican primaries of 2024, with previous favorite Ron DeSantis dropping out after finishing second in Iowa. Trump invited for second state visit On February 27, 2025, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer invited Donald Trump to a state visit to the UK for the second time, with this first state visit taking place in 2019. Before the 2019 visit, 46 percent of people in Britain supported it, compared with 40 percent who wanted the visit cancelled. As of March 2025, the share of people who supported a second state visit stood at 43 percent, with 42 percent opposing it. Although relations between Starmer and Trump have remained positive, an MP from the Scottish National Party called for the visit to be cancelled due to the ongoing fallout between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As of May 2025, 36 percent of people in Great Britain thought that Keir Starmer was better for the job of Prime Minister than the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, with 25 percent believing she would be better for the job. Although Starmer is currently seen as better suited for the job as Prime Minister, the approval ratings for his government have declined considerably since winning the election, sinking to a low of -54 percent in March 2025. Sunak vs Starmer Shortly after succeeding Truss as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak was seen by 30 percent of people as the best person for the job, just four percentage points behind Keir Starmer. Twenty months later, however, on the eve of the 2024 general election, just 19 percent of people thought Sunak was the best choice, compared with 35 percent for Starmer. Despite pledging to address the main issues facing the country at the start of 2023, Sunak struggled to convince voters. Although inflation peaked in 2022, and declined throughout 2023, the cost of living crisis afflicting people in the UK lingered on, while progress on improving the NHS proved elusive. The Conservatives suffered a clear defeat in the 2024 election, winning just 121 seats, compared with 365 in 2019. Scandals and mini budgets After becoming Prime Minister in late 2019, a series of controversies harmed the popularity of Boris Johnson among voters, and eventually forced his resignation. The Partygate scandal, which revealed that senior government officials held parties at Downing Street, during the COVID-19 lockdown, was the most severe. When the issue came to a head in Summer 2022, Johnson survived the initial political backlash, including an attempted vote of no-confidence in his leadership, but he was forced to resign his position after a wave of senior ministers resigned from his government between July 5-7, 2022. Although Liz Truss won the leadership contest that followed the resignation of Johnson, her time in office was by far the shortest of any Prime Minister. After an unorthodox mini-budget resulted in an acute economic crisis, she resigned her position after less than 50 days in the job