Opinion
Why political leaders are so unpopular now
Politicians need to recognise that the connection between headline economic data and political support has broken. Voters are reacting to long-term decline, and are looking for fresh fixes.
Ruchir SharmaWriter and investorJoe Biden’s record low popularity ratings get a lot of attention, yet leaders in the developed world are in a similar predicament to the US president – they have rarely been this unpopular.
I track leaders’ approval ratings in 20 major democracies, using leading pollsters such as Morning Consult, Gallup and Compolítica. In the developed world, no leader has a rating above 50 per cent. Only one country (Italy) has seen its leader gain approval in the 2020s.
Financial Times
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