People in Serbia stand out as ranking first in the world by level of support for the President of Russia, while Pope Leo XIV has a lower rating only among citizens of Iraq (-24 per cent) and Turkey (-31 per cent), according to the results of a survey by the international association Gallup International on opinions about world leaders.
The survey, conducted in 57 countries and territories worldwide, showed that public support for world leaders is declining globally, and that Pope Leo XIV is the leader with the highest level of trust in the world and the only one with a positive score, a net score of plus 24 per cent reflecting the predominance of positive over negative opinions. This is somewhat lower than his predecessor Pope Francis, whose score was plus 28 per cent in a survey conducted in 2019, Gallup International stated.
All other leaders have negative overall ratings, which have also fallen significantly compared to the previous survey. At the bottom of the list, with a negative score of minus 42 per cent, is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, followed by Vladimir Putin with minus 41 per cent and Donald Trump with minus 31 per cent.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the second most favourably viewed leader, but still with a negative score (-12 per cent), while Xi Jinping is in third place (-23 per cent).
Among the countries surveyed, Putin enjoys the greatest support among citizens of Serbia (plus 37 per cent) and India (plus 30 per cent), while his lowest support is among residents of Ukraine (minus 98 per cent) and Scandinavia, where support is above minus 90 per cent.
Citizens of Serbia give the greatest support to Vladimir Putin (score 37 per cent), followed by Xi Jinping (+22 per cent), and both leaders traditionally enjoy the highest support among Serbian citizens, Gallup points out, adding, however, that a downward trend in support is also noticeable in Serbia. In the previous survey in 2019, these leaders had almost double the net support score compared to now.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also has a mildly positive rating (+6 per cent). Serbian citizens most often have an unfavourable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (-50 per cent), followed by US President Donald Trump (score -44 per cent) and Pope Leo XIV (-19 per cent).
Pope Leo XIV, as the survey showed, is otherwise the only world leader with a positive score, of plus 24 per cent, while he has a lower rating than among citizens of Serbia only among citizens of Iraq (-24 per cent) and Turkey (-31 per cent).
Since 1979, Gallup International has conducted the international Voice of the People – End of Year study at the end of each year, focusing on expectations for the coming year. In each country, the representative sample consists of around 1,000 men and women, interviewed between October and December 2025, while the representative sample in Serbia consisted of 1,020 respondents interviewed face to face in November 2025.
The ratings of Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Benjamin Netanyahu and Pope Leo XIV were analysed, with special attention paid to the views of Serbian citizens.
(Beta, 05/02/2026)