It is estimated that in 2024, half of the world’s population will be casting their votes in more than 60 countries going to polls. India, Germany, France, the US, the UK, Canada, Japan and South Korea will be holding elections in the coming months but their incumbent leaders are not faring well in terms of popularity, with PM Modi being an outlier. The reason for such disapproval are somewhat region-specific, but four global issues of inflation, immigration, inequality and incumbency have caused displeasure to the people. Here’s a look at the world’s most unpopular leaders as per the latest data from Morning Consult’s Global Leader Approval Rating Tracker collected from February 29–March 6. The ratings reflect a seven-day moving average of views among adults in each country surveyed.
FOlaf Scholz
German chancellor Olaf Scholz is one of the world’s most unpopular leaders with a disapproval rating for 73%. As many as 22% participants approve of him while 5% have no opinion about him. He has been the incumbent chancellor of Germany since December 8, 2021. Previously he served as vice-chancellor in the fourth Angela Merkel cabinet and as federal minister of finance from 2018 to 2021. He is a longtime member of Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and has also served as first mayor of Hamburg, deputy leader of the SPD, and federal minister of labour and social affairs in previous stints.
Emmanuel Macron
French president Emmanuel Macron has a disapproval rating of 71%. As many as 23% of the participants approve of him while 6% have no opinion about him. He has been the President of France since 2017. Previously, he served as the minister of economics, industry and digital affairs under president François Hollande from 2014 to 2016. Macron became the first French president in two decades to win a second term when he was reelected in 2022 and is the country’s youngest head of state since Napoleon I. He was also the first person in the history of the Fifth Republic (France’s third-longest-lasting political regime) to win the presidency without the support of either the socialists or the Gaullists, and is a founding member of the centrist political party Renaissance.
Yoon Seok-youl
President of South Korea Yoon Seok-youl has a disapproval rating of 70%. As many as 25% of the participants approve of him while 5% have no opinion about him. Yoon Seok-youl has been serving as the president since 2022. Previously, he was prosecutor general of South Korea between 2019 and 2021 appointed by president Moon Jae-in in July 2019. He is known to have been instrumental in convicting former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak for abuse of power in his capacity as the chief of the Seoul central district prosecutor’s office.
Fumio Kishida
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has a disapproval rating of 70%. As many as 17% of the participants approve of him while 14% have no opinion about him. He has been serving as Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Previously, he served as minister for foreign affairs under prime minister Shinzo Abe and as acting minister of defence.
Rishi Sunak
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak has a disapproval rating of 66%. As many as 26% of the participants approve of him while 8% have no opinion about him. Sunak has been the PM of the UK and leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. Previously, he was chancellor of the Exchequer between 2020 and 2022 under Boris Johnson. He is Britain’s first Indian-origin prime minister and has been member of Parliament for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.
Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau PC MP has a disapproval rating of 59%. As many as 35% of the participants approve of him while 6% have no opinion about him. He is the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. He is the son of four-term prime minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.
Joe Biden
The President of the United States Joe Biden has a disapproval rating of 54% and is at the 9th position of the tracker. As many as 39% of the participants approve of him while 7% have no opinion about him. According to media reports, since at least World War II, no other US president has had a worse disapproval rating at this point in his term. Biden is the 46th president of the US and is seeking his second and final term as president. He is a member of the Democratic Party and previously served as two-term vice-president. If he gets re-elected as POTUS, he would be the oldest president to date, breaking his own record.
Narendra Modi, an outlier
India’s incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an outlier as he is on the top of the popularity list with an approval rating of 78%. In the ratings, 16% of the participants expressed disapproval and 6% had no opinion about him. Modi has been serving as the 14th prime minister of India since May 2014 and is seeking his third term. Incumbency doesn’t seem to have made a dent in his popularity according to the approval ratings. Currently he is the fourth
longest-serving PM of India after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Before becoming PM, he was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001
to 2014.