China and Vietnam. Those are about the only places outside of Russia where people on the street are more likely than not to have confidence in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s handling of foreign policy.
In the other 37 of the 40 countries polled recently by Pew, views of the Russian leader are far less favorable. And across all respondents, a median of just 24% thinks that Putin is doing the right thing when it comes to world affairs.
By contrast, a median of 65% of respondents approve of US president Barack Obama’s handling of foreign affairs, marked recently by high-profile diplomatic breakthroughs with Iran and Cuba.
While Putin’s popularity at home has soared since the annexation of Crimea in March last year, it has plummeted almost everywhere else. Still, there are a handful of countries where Putin can at least take some solace that people there like him more than Obama:
However, the list where the reverse is true is much, much longer: