Russia ranked last on global approval of its leadership among five of the world’s most powerful countries in a new Gallup poll released on Thursday.
Only 28 percent of the global populace in 2011 approved of the performance of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, up one percent year-on-year, the pollster said on its website.
The leader, Germany, had a median approval rating of 47 percent, narrowly beating the United States with 46 percent to top the poll for the first time since 2008. The United States topped the poll in 2009 and 2010.
The United Kingdom came third with 40 percent and China was fourth with 32 percent.
Russia ranked last in the poll ever since Gallup began polling the world on global leadership in 2007. The pollster did not offer any explanation for Russia's poor performance, but noted that support for it skyrocketed in Senegal (a growth of 32 percent), Singapore (31 percent) and Ghana (29 percent) and plummeted in Australia (a loss of 16 percent), Vietnam (14 percent) and Sierra Leone (11 percent).
Approval for Russia was at its highest in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, and lowest in Jamaica, Georgia and Trinidad and Tobago.
The poll covered 135 countries and did not specify a margin of error.
