US President Barack Obama is the most popular world leader, according to the “World Leaders” barometer, a bi-monthly poll conducted by Harris Interactive for FRANCE 24 and the International Herald Tribune in six countries.

 

Obama is also the one figure most people pin their hopes on for pulling the world out the economic downturn, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel coming second with 22%.

 

Another highlight of the poll is Pope Benedict XVI’s popularity which continues to fall, especially in France, where he has lost more than 20 popularity points over the last five months. The pope fell from sixth to ninth place in this survey.

 

The survey also found that a substantial majority expect to see a rise in political extremism and social unrest in their own countries because of the financial crisis.

 

Full document (pdf)

 

Methodology
The latest poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive, in partnership with FRANCE 24 and The International Herald Tribune. A total of 6,332 adults (aged 16-64) in France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and the United States and adults (aged 18-64) in Italy were questioned between April 29 and May 6, 2009. The data was weighted, where necessary, by age, gender, education, region and Internet usage to make it representative of the general population profile for each country.