| Country | Leader | Approval |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | Trudeau | 39% |
| France | Macron | 25% |
| Germany | Scholz | 34% |
| Italy | Meloni | 49% |
| Japan | Kishida | 31% |
| United Kingdom | Sunak | 33% |
| United States | Biden | 41% |
All of the approval ratings above are from the Morning Consult (for consistency). I don’t know that there’s ever been a weaker showing among the G7 leaders.
In a sense just attending a summit probably helped them—looking statesmanlike is always good.
I wonder if this is mostly just the new normal. Online articles with a positive slant on leaders doesnt seem like it would nearly as many clicks nowadays as ones that are negative. My guess would be that an article which lies, even knowingly, about someone gets many more clicks that the debunking or retractions that come later. To be sure, I think lots of media forego the retractions so their viewers never know.
Steve
As Mme. de Cornuel observed more than two centuries ago, no man is a hero to his valet. We have too much information (see my next post).
However, that doesn’t change the reality that high approval rates give leaders a freer hand; low approval rates limit their options.
“My guess would be that an article which lies, even knowingly, about someone gets many more clicks that the debunking or retractions that come later. To be sure, I think lots of media forego the retractions so their viewers never know.”
You mean like a certain Russian Hoax, or a certain laptop.
I think you are on to something……………
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/05/19/the-impossible-must-be-possible-how-the-durham-whodunit-became-who-didnt-do-it/#more-205112
Ah, yes. The media, Obama, and……….
How old is Turley? He still has a vivid imagination for making up stuff but a poor memory. The Trump team meeting with Russians in a hotel was well documented.
Steve
An overarching explanation is “its the economy, stupid”. I believe in all 7 countries, inflation has exceeded wage growth for about 2 years now.
But I wouldn’t over interpret those approval ratings. With the exception of the France (Macron is term limited) and the UK, these leaders are currently projected for re-election.