Which world leaders do average Americans know the best (or at all?)

[Mr. Morden]

I posed essentially the same question in this thread:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=75078.0

[Mr. Morden]

Putin, Merkel, Cameron, Pope Francis, Kim Jong Un, and Bashar Al Assad.  That's probably about it. 

I doubt the average American could tell you that Cameron is the current PM of the UK.  Maybe you offered it as multiple choice, a plurality would get it right, depending on what the other choices are.  But they're not going to recall it from memory.  Heck, as I recall, only about 70% of poll respondents in the US are typically able to tell you the name of the current Vice President of the United States from memory.  They're not going to remember that the current North Korean dictator is named Kim Jong Un.

[Mr. Morden]

A quick Google got me this:

2007, but only 36% could name Putin. Some other shocking numbers in there.

Yeah, here's an interesting chart from that release (again, this is from 2007):



Note that it matters how you frame it: "Who is the president of Russia?" might have a different success rate than if you ask "Who is Vladimir Putin?"

I'd imagine that the name recognition on Putin would be higher today though, since he's been around longer, and because he's been in the news so much recently.

[Mr. Morden]

The ones that a majority of Americans could identify:

Kim Jong-un

If the question is phrased as "Who is Kim Jong-un?" then a decent number might get it right.  But if it's "Who is the leader of North Korea?", then I think the number who could recall the name Kim Jong-un will be tiny.

[Mr. Morden]

A quick Google got me this:

2007, but only 36% could name Putin. Some other shocking numbers in there.

Yeah, here's an interesting chart from that release (again, this is from 2007):



Note that it matters how you frame it: "Who is the president of Russia?" might have a different success rate than if you ask "Who is Vladimir Putin?"

I'd imagine that the name recognition on Putin would be higher today though, since he's been around longer, and because he's been in the news so much recently.

Only 61% of people know who Barack Obama is???

I just bolded the part of my post that addresses your confusion.

[Mr. Morden]

I doubt most know Harper or Cameron. Most would have known Blair, even Brown after so long, but Cameron hasn't really stuck out. Neither has Harper, despite being there forever. And I bet most Americans still think Fidel Castro is in charge. Or know Raul simply as "Fidel Castro's brother" instead of his actual name.

I think a lot of us overestimate the number of people that knows anything about the politics of foreign countries (an easy mistake to make if you hang around at a place like this). A 10 year old survey showed that only 6% of Americans knew the name of the Canadian PM. And even though this was when Blair was at the height of his fame (and particularly in the US), only 51% could identify the British Prime Minister. In 2000 only 22% knew about Blair - I would be surprised if Cameron's name recognition is any higher than that.

I think it partially depends on which around the question is asked.  "Who is Kim Jong-Un?" would probably get more correct answers than "Who is the head of state/government of North Korea?"

[Mr. Morden]

Better known than one would expect: Mugabe, Abbott

Why in the world would any appreciable %age of Americans know who Tony Abbott is?

[Mr. Morden]

I guess Assad's name recognition would be higher now than it was a year ago, with all the talk about Syria.  Still probably not all that high though, to be honest.

Oh yeah, and while Hollande's name recognition is undoubtedly pretty low, it's got to be at least higher now than it was a year ago.