More than 25,000 people were asked to pick favourites from the world’s most powerful

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Mexico has a soft spot for Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel has admirers in Turkey, and Theresa May’s dancing appears to have won her fans in Nigeria.

That is, according to the results of YouGov’s most recent poll, the largest of its kind conducted by the public opinion and data company, published exclusively in the Guardian.

Q&A What is the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project? Show Hide The project is a new annual survey of global attitudes in 23 of the world's biggest countries, covering almost 5 billion people.

The 2019 survey canvassed 25,325 people online across much of Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia in February and March.

Questions about populist attitudes and convictions were inserted in order to derive a "populist cohort", and discover what this group of people think about major world issues from immigration to vaccination, social media and globalisation. The full methodology can be found here.

Among questions on a broad range of global issues, more than 25,000 people in 23 countries across the globe were asked to pick their favourites from a list of the world’s most rich and powerful, which included political leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau alongside public figures and celebrities such as Warren Buffett, Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michelle and Barack Obama – first and second most popular across all 23 countries. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Barack and Michelle Obama chalked up a husband-and-wife first and second spot as the most popular people on average across all 23 countries, closely followed by Bill Gates and Will Smith. The Dalai Lama was the pick of the current political leaders, with Merkel second.

The tech multibillionaire Gates won the highest single rating with 14% in Nigeria. Madonna stood out with 12% in Turkey. Other notable scores included David Beckham, still popular in Turkey; David Attenborough, highly regarded in Australia; Sandra Bullock, big in Brazil; and Julia Roberts, still feted in Poland.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Madonna, Will Smith and Julia Roberts. Composite: Wireimage/Getty Images

Political leaders had a harder time in the popularity stakes. Some notable zero-percenters included Donald Trump in Germany, Theresa May in France and Spain and Putin and Xi Jinping in Japan. The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, scored 0% in more countries than those he picked up marks in. May was most popular in Nigeria, where 6% of people put her among their favourite politicians.

In a second question, YouGov asked if people liked or disliked different world leaders. From those responses it appears that Trump is apparently reasonably popular in India, perhaps because he hasn’t been there yet. His denigration of Africa as a “shithole” appears to have done his reputation little harm: more Nigerians like him than dislike him.

Merkel is generally more popular the further north in Europe you go, a legacy perhaps of German-inspired austerity foisted on the south.

Putin scores well in Mexico and India, but poorly in Britain, where more than 60% of people dislike him.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel. Photograph: Anatoly Maltsev/AFP/Getty Images

It’s unlikely to bother him – or any of them. There are no votes in foreign admiration. If there were, Michelle Obama would certainly win the 2020 American presidential election, but the incumbent would also be given a run for his money by his previous opponent Hilary Clinton, talkshow host Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.