President Obama Leaves Office with High Worldwide Approval Ratings – But Global Expectations for Trump Are More Pessimistic

Toronto, ON – The world has a much more positive view of President Obama’s time in office compared to the lack of optimism they express about Donald Trump’s impending term, according to an Ipsos poll of over 18,000 people globally.

The study, among online adults aged under 65 in 24 different countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States) asked people to predict how President Trump will take to his new role and to review Obama’s presidency.

President Obama’s Approval Ratings

President Obama has left a positive mark on those in Canada: four in five (81%) Canadians believe Obama was a good president, 5 percentage points above the worldwide average. Looking across Canada, residents of Alberta (87%), Quebec (86%) and BC (85%) are most likely to say Obama was a good president, followed by residents of Ontario (78%), Atlantic Canada (78%), and the Prairies (72%). Women (87%) are more likely than men (76%) to see him as a good president, while Canadians aged 18-34 (85%) are most likely to share the same opinion, compared to 81% of those 50-64 and 77% of those 35-49.

Obama leaves his office with high worldwide approval ratings — nearly all countries rate him positively, with an average of 76% saying he has been a good president of the USA.

• Opinions are particularly high in South Korea and India, where around nine in 10 have a positive view of Obama’s time in office. On the other hand, Russia stands out as the only country with an overwhelming negative opinion (87% think he was a bad president).
• Americans themselves are much more split - 56% think Obama was a good president and 44% think he was a bad president.

Predicting Donald Trump’s Presidential Performance

Canadians are certainly not on the fence when predicting Trump’s performance as president, instead they are quite cynical. Nearly three in four (73%) Canadians predict Trump will be a bad president, 7 percentage points above the global average. Some Canadians are more pessimistic than others: British Columbians (81%) are most likely to think he will be a bad president, followed by residents of Atlantic Canada (77%), Quebec (76%), Alberta (71%), Ontario (69%) and the Prairies (60%). Women (78%) are much likelier than men (67%) to think Trump will do a bad job.

Americans are more divided about their new president – around half (52%) think Donald Trump will make a good president and half (48%) think he will be a bad president – not that far off the final assessment they gave to Obama’s presidency.

Worldwide, people are much less sure of Donald Trump – only a minority in most countries predict he will make a good president (34% on average, while 66% think he will be a bad president). In particular, Spain, Mexico and Great Britain are pessimistic, with around four in five expecting Trump to do a bad job. Russia again stands out from worldwide opinion and is significantly more positive about Donald Trump as president (74% think he will be good), although two in three Indians (65%) are also optimistic.

Given Trump’s unconventional way of doing things, many have mused that he might be impeached even in his first year of office. Globally 31% think it is likely that he’ll be impeached in 2017, 48% think it is unlikely, and the rest (21%) are on the fence.

• Four in ten (41%) Canadians believe it is likely that he will be impeached in 2017, making Canadians among the most likely to think so, only slightly behind those in Italy (42%) and Turkey (42%).
• One in three (34%) Americans think it is likely that he will be impeached in 2017.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Global @dvisor poll conducted between December 23, 2016 and January 7, 2017. For this survey, a total of 18,070 interviews were conducted among adults aged 18-64 in the US and Canada, and adults aged 16-64 in all other countries. The survey was conducted in 24 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system (between 500 – 1,000 interviews were carried out in each country). The countries reporting herein are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population (7 of the countries surveyed – Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Turkey - have lower levels of internet connectivity and reflect online populations that tend to be more urban and have higher education/income than the general population). The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to ±3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to ±5.0 percentage points. For more information on Ipsos’ use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website. The survey’s subsample of 1,004 Canadians is accurate to within ±3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker, PhD
CEO, Global
Ipsos Public Affairs
416.324.2001
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning—Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999.