It may not feel like it, but hope is on the horizon: Trump, Netanyahu and Putin’s powers appear to be waning

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, on 23 May 2017. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

It may not feel like it, but hope is on the horizon: Trump, Netanyahu and Putin’s powers appear to be waning

The Guardian-May17th2026

Plummeting approval ratings for these three poisonous comrades-in-arms show voters are demoralised and tiring of forever wars – the west could soon breathe again

Feeling depressed about the state of the world? Worried about the future? You’re not alone. Pessimism about politics is the new normal among the peoples of the west. Major conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and the harms caused by right-left extremism, stagnating economies, inequality, corruption, terrorism, racism, big tech, mass extinctions and the climate crisis make for shared nightmares.

Growing numbers of people simply refuse to personally engage with current events via the news media, finding them too anxiety-inducing (so they probably won’t be reading this). In a Reuters Institute survey last year, 40% of respondents in about 50 countries said they sometimes or often avoid the news altogether, a rise of 29% on 2017.

Intense negativity characterises European and, to a lesser degree, North American political sentiment. In France, 90% of people questioned by Ipsos believed their country is on the wrong track. In Britain, it was 79%; in Germany, 77%; in the US, 60%. Europeans feel similarly glum about the bigger, global picture, unlike the Chinese, Saudis and Nigerians who are broadly upbeat, according to a GlobeScan survey.

Disenchantment with democracy and dissatisfaction with political leaders is a ubiquitous, polarising western phenomenon. Divisions grow entrenched. Keir Starmer, with a 27% approval rating, according to Statista, is struggling to survive. Yet Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, are even less popular, on 19% and 18% respectively.

Donald Trump is down to about 38% approval, trailing his nemesis, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, on 54%. In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s historically inflated ratings are now badly punctured. Figures for Xi Jinping are unreliable; in China, freely expressing opinions is dangerous. India is an exception. A majority frankly adores the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

A non-apathetic alternative to tuning out is switching on to anti-status quo parties that want, in effect, to blow up the system. They include radical leftists such as La France Insoumise and hard-right nationalist-populists such as the Alternative für Deutschland, Reform UK and Maga Republicans. But mostly they offer anger, not answers. So far, so much more depressing.