GETTY Mr Trump and Mr Putin are fans of each other

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And respondents say they have more "confidence" in Mr Putin's ability to "do the right thing" than Republican nominee hopeful Mr Trump. In the poll, conducted by Washington D.C based think tank the Pew Research Center, Mr Putin also appears to have better approval ratings than President Obama in China and Greece. A total of 15 countries were consulted from countries including Australia, France, Germany, Canada, India, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, India and the UK. The Mexican community was not polled in the report which asked questions about the comparative confidence in political leaders and US presidential hopefuls.

GETTY Mr Putin has better approval ratings than Mr Trump

Last December Mr Putin called Mr Trump "brilliant" and "talented." He told reporters in a translation by Interfax: “Donald Trump is a really brilliant and talented person, without any doubt. “It’s not our job to judge his qualities, that’s a job for American voters, but he’s the absolute leader in the presidential race.” The news comes after it was revealed Mr Trump's campaign manager has been caught up in a criminal investigation in Ukraine. According to the New York Times, handwritten ledgers show almost £10m in undisclosed cash payments from the pro-Russian political party of Viktor F Yanukovych are linked to the bank accounts of Paul Manafort. Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau is probing the cash transactions over a period of rom 2007 to 2012.

He is a strong leader. What am I going to say, he’s a weak leader? Donald Trump on Putin

Mr Trump has openly lauded Mr Putin who last week visited Turkey to smooth over cracks in his friendship with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to directly deal with Mr Putin should he reach the Oval office. He was reported as saying: “He says he wants to move on to a new, more substantial relationship, a deeper relationship with Russia, how can we not welcome that?” “Of course we welcome that.” Mr Trump also told NBC’s Meet the Press that he thought Mr Putin was a "strong leader" after it was revealed the Russian president was popular in the USA. He said: "He is a strong leader. What am I going to say, he’s a weak leader? "He’s making mincemeat out of our president." "He’s got an 80 percent approval rating done by pollsters from, I understand, this country. Okay? "So it’s not even done by his pollsters. He’s very popular within Russia; that may change."

GETTY Mr Trump is currently behind Hillary Clinton in the polls

twitter The research data shows Mr Putin is head of Trump