Majority Of Malaysians Have Confidence In Vladimir Putin — According To Research Survey

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The recent Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen the scale of war against multiple European nations increase since World War II in the 1940s. 

One of the biggest responses to the crisis was by the United States and NATO (abbreviation for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which consists of an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states — 28 European and two North American).

As the war has been at the centre of international affiliations for months, a new 18-nation Pew Research Center survey was conducted to measure the attitudes of the selected countries towards the United States, NATO, and Russia in a time of crisis.

Among the nations was Malaysia, which was one of only two Southeast Asian countries to be included (the other being Singapore).

The survey was executed over the course of 12 and a half weeks, lasting from 14 February until 11 May. 

In a poll dissecting the surveyees' confidence among the world's most powerful leaders, Putin ranked last with 90% of the individuals rating that they have no confidence in him. On the other hand, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, garnered the most confidence with a 62% positive rating.

When it came to the favourability towards the US, every country ranked a majority favourable percentile except Malaysia, which rated a 57% unfavourable margin.

These statistics seem to carry forward towards the perception of the US as a reliable partner, with Malaysia once again ranking them unfavourably. 56% of Malaysian surveyees were said to have little to no confidence in the US when it comes to reliability.

Nonetheless, the majority of Malaysian surveyees still maintain favourability in Joe Biden as president of the United States, holding a 53% confidence rating.

The only country with mixed reviews, 50% of Malaysian surveyees still maintained an unfavourable view towards Russia, though this was the lowest unfavourable margin among all 18 countries. 

Other nations including the US, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, and Japan, held an above 90% unfavourable view of Russia.

However, Malaysia was the only country where the majority of individuals maintained confidence in Vladimir Putin, with a 59% favourable percentile. This surpasses the margin of favourability with US president, Joe Biden. 

Overall, the 18-country median for confidence in Putin was at a 90% unfavourable margin, reaching a 20-year low for most of the countries on the list. With the exception of Malaysia and Singapore, all the other countries have an overwhelming 'none at all' confidence rating for Putin.