The Most Disliked Leaders in the World

Bolsonaro is called by some in the Brazilian media the “Trump of the Tropics” for his anti-establishment populism and confrontational style. And like the former U.S. president, his approval ratings fell enough that he became one-term president. Bolsonaro, 67, a member of the right-leaning Liberal Party, assumed office on Jan. 1, 2019, and lost to former Brazilian president (2003-2010) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a 77-year-old member of the leftist Workers’ Party, in a runoff election on Oct. 30.

Conservative Party member Rishi Sunak, 42, was the U.K.’s chancellor of the exchequer before winning enough support from the House of Commons to become prime minister on Oct. 25, replacing Mary Elizabeth Truss who resigned after only 50 days in office amid a credibility crisis. Before assuming his new role, Sunak’s net favorability rating fell to negative 18 points in an April IPsos poll, his lowest approval rating since becoming chancellor because of widespread negative perceptions about the state of the country.

In July, Taoiseach (head of the Irish government) Micheál Martin dismissed an Irish Times/Ipsos poll that showed the lowest public satisfaction with the government since Martin took office, with just 31% approval. Martin, 62, assumed office in June 2020 for the conservative Fianna Fáil party.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s approval rating fell to 39% in a Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted in mid-October and released a day before the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Poll respondents cited the economy as the biggest problem facing the country. Biden, 79, served as U.S. senator for 36 years before becoming President Barack Obama’s vice president and defeating incumbent President Donald Trump by 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.

A national poll from Abacus Data in July found that only a third of Canadians believe their country is headed in the right direction, and 51% of respondents said they disapproved of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s performance, the highest score since he took office in November 2015. Trudeau, 50, is a member of the Liberal Party and has maintained his position as prime minister through two federal election cycles, in 2019 and 2021.