Majority of South Koreans, Mexicans, Germans Trust Putin More Than Trump

Six months into his presidency, Donald Trump has made clear who he considers to be his friends, and his foes, on the global stage.

The majority of South Koreans, Mexicans, Germans and Vietnamese have greater trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin than President Donald Trump to do right on the world stage, according to a Pew poll released Tuesday. Several spots have since polluted the roadmap of the u.s. president and his popularity could very well tumble even more in Canada, but also in the other 36 countries included in the survey. Only Tanzanians saw them as equals.

The survey was conducted between February 16 and May 8 and was before Trump used the words "fire and fury" when talking about a possible US reaction to an attack by North Korea on the United States or any of its territories.

The survey was taken before Mr Trump signed a bill deepening sanctions against Russian Federation over Ukraine and the Kremlin retaliated by ordering the United States to slash staff at its diplomatic missions.

"The initiative to obtain Russian citizenship belongs to Shane", he said, adding that "the federation was weighing all pros and cons to decide to which extent the Australian athlete would be "needed for the country, the national team and the starting lineup". China was not polled.

Mr Trump edged out Mr Putin in the confidence stakes in 13 countries, including the UK, India and Israel.

Despite the tension, Pew found Russians and Americans have improved impressions of one another. The number of Russians who see the U.S. favourably rose to 41 per cent, from 15 per cent in 2015.

In the USA there is a substantial partisan divide in the perception of Russian Federation as a threat, 61 percent of Democrats polled agreed with the statement "Russia's power and influence is a major threat to our country", compared to just 36 percent of Republicans.