Poll shows more GOP voters believe world would be a better place without the US president than without Russia’s leader
Americans of all political stripes largely agree that the world would be a better place without Vladimir Putin in office as Russia’s president, but Republicans are even more sour on the US leader.
A Morning Consult poll released on Monday revealed that 83% of Americans believe the world would be a better place without Putin in office. Among GOP voters, 84% of respondents said the same of President Joe Biden.
It’s not that Republicans are bigger fans of Putin than are Americans at large. In fact, 83% of Republicans agreed that the world would be better off without Putin running the Kremlin, matching the overall survey result. Independents were slightly less condemning of Putin, with 79% saying the world would be a better place without him in office.
Where the poll responses diverged was on Biden. While nearly seven in eight Republicans see his presence in office as harmful to the world, only 17% of Democrats agreed. Perhaps most concerning for Democrats heading into this year’s midterm elections is that more than half of independents (51%) said they believe the world would be better off without Biden in the White House. By comparison, only 34% of independents said the world would be a worse place without Biden in office.
Putin was the leading villain in the US poll, exceeding Kim Jong-un’s ratio of 78% of respondents saying the world would be better without him. China’s Xi Jinping was next in line, at 59%, followed by Biden, at 51%. Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman came in at 39% and 37%, respectively. Just 12% of respondents said the world would be a better place without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in office.
Biden distinguished himself as the most disappointing US president in 75 years after taking office in January 2021. A Gallup poll released last October showed that he had suffered the biggest decline in presidential approval ratings since Harry Truman was trying to fill the shoes of the late Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. Biden’s approval ratings have continued to slide this year, dropping to 38% in a CNBC poll released last week. That compared with a 46% rating in December, just before the Ukraine crisis began to dominate US media coverage.
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 (IPS) – As the world is rocked by a confluence of crises, the global economic outlook for 2022 is becoming ever more uncertain and fragile. Prospects for sustainable development for all and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 are bleak, particularly for developing countries.
Swedish police said they fired warning shots during a riot in an eastern city to disperse protesters angry about the far-right rallies. Three people were slightly injured during the clashes.
The Turkish defense minister pledged to fight Kurds in northern Iraq “until the last terrorist is neutralized”
The Turkish military operation in northern Iraq, which was launched on Sunday, has achieved all of its initial objectives, the country’s defense ministry said in a Monday morning update. Ankara is targeting Kurdish militant forces in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The military has reported killing a large number of “terrorists” and destroying many sites associated with them. “As of now, all of the planned targets have been achieved,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.
He added that the operation will continue “with determination until the last terrorist is neutralized,” although no projected time frame for that was provided.
The official was monitoring the progress of the incursion alongside the country’s senior military leadership. Turkey launched the military action, dubbed Operation Claw-Lock, on Sunday evening.
According to the Defense Ministry, Turkish forces destroyed shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots, and command posts belonging to those whom Ankara labels as terrorists. Turkish commando forces and artillery were participating in the operation, which also involved multiple air strikes from manned and unmanned aircraft, the report said. Turkey offered no initial casualty assessment.
Turkish officials said the operation is targeting the forces of PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an ethnic Kurdish militant force that fought against Ankara for decades, as well as the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG. Both are considered terrorist organizations in Turkey.
The Turkish military has conducted a number of cross-border campaigns against Kurdish forces in both Syria and Iraq over the years. The latest operation focused on the Iraqi regions of Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan, according to the Turkish ministry. Ankara claimed its incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan was legitimate under the national self-defense clauses of the UN Charter.
“Our activities are carried out in a way that respects the territorial integrity and sovereign rights of friendly and brotherly Iraq,” the defense minister said.
The official claimed his nation’s armed forces only targeted “terrorist forces” and did everything possible to avoid harm to civilians, cultural and religious sites, and the environment.
