Putin Is Losing the Global South, Poll Suggests

Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the Global South, a new Pew Research Center poll showed.

The poll—which was published on July 2 ahead of the NATO military alliance's summit in Washington, D.C., on July 9 to 11—surveyed global public confidence in the Russian leader, asking respondents if they had confidence in Putin "to do the right thing regarding world affairs."

In February 2022, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now, after more than two years of fighting, Moscow is increasingly raising the prospect of peace talks to end the war. Ukraine has said that any peace deal must invalidate the September 2022 annexations of its territory, and that the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin annexed in 2014, must once again be considered part of Ukraine.

The poll was conducted between January 5 and May 21 and includes respondents in 35 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

Overall, views of Putin have remained largely negative across the 35 countries polled—73 percent of respondents lacked confidence in the Russian leader "to do the right thing regarding world affairs," Pew reported.

Confidence in the Russian leader fell in a number of countries in the Global South, including in India, the Philippines, Turkey, Ghana, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

The survey found that the percentage of Indians who had confidence in Putin "to do the right thing regarding world affairs" was 39 percent in 2024, down 3 percentage points from 2019, when a poll was last conducted in the country.

In Brazil, 10 percent of respondents had confidence in Putin in 2024, a decrease of 2 percentage points from last year. In Mexico, 24 percent had a favorable view of Putin, which was down 1 percent from 2023. In Chile, 12 percent had confidence in Putin, an 8 percent drop from 2017—which Pew said was "a new low."

In the Philippines, Turkey and Ghana, confidence in the Russian leader "to do the right thing regarding world affairs" dropped 5 percentage points, 6 percentage points and 3 percentage points, respectively, from when polls were last conducted in the countries.

In most places, confidence in Putin has remained "relatively stable" since last year, Pew reported. The think tank said that in countries where it had not conducted a survey since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, confidence in Putin was down slightly.

Pew previously told Newsweek that in Europe, those with favorable views of a right-wing populist party saw Russia and Putin more positively than those with unfavorable views of such parties.

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