Xi Jinping ‘most popular world leader’, says poll
Heads of state in authoritarian countries with controlled media fare well in survey, according to a research centre in the United States
A state media report on an international poll suggesting President Xi Jinping is the highest rated world leader has been carried extensively by news websites in China, but it left out more critical analysis on why he may have fared so well.
President Xi was rated nine out of ten among the people polled in China in a survey conducted by the Japanese research firm GMO.
Some 26,000 people were polled in 30 countries about their attitude to 10 world leaders.
A commentary on the survey’s findings by the Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School in the United States said leaders in more tightly controlled societies where there was less free discussion about politics, such as China and Russia, generally rated their heads of state higher.
“Where the media tends to be dominated by the government, it is not surprising that the citizens of those countries claim to pay more attention to their own leaders,” the commentary said.
“In countries where the press is more open and critical, we see that leaders receive lower ratings from their citizens.”