Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Theresa May now as unpopular in Germany as Vladimir Putin, poll finds

UK Prime Minister has a negative approval rating in every country surveyed and is even behind France's President, Emmanuel Macron, in Britain

Benjamin Kentish

Thursday 06 July 2017 20:04 BST

Theresa May will have a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump at the G20 in Hamburg (AFP)

Theresa May is now as unpopular in Germany as Vladimir Putin, according to a new survey.

The Prime Minister and the Russian President both have an approval rating among Germans of minus 45, the YouGov poll found.

The low level of support for Ms May is likely linked to her tough rhetoric about the EU, particularly her promise to be a “difficult woman” during the Brexit negotiations.

The Conservatives' poor showing at the general election, where the party was expected to win but ended up losing their House of Commons majority, may also have had an impact.

Of the five major world leaders included in the poll, only Donald Trump (minus 71) is more disliked by German people.

The findings will come as a blow to Ms May as she prepares to travel to Hamburg for a meeting of the G20, where she will hold talks with several heads of state, including Mr Trump.

Ms May is likely to be particularly concerned by the fact she is more unpopular in the UK than other European leaders. Her rating of minus 27 is significantly lower than the plus 17 enjoyed by Emmanuel Macron and the plus three by Angela Merkel.

However, she remains more popular among British people than Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who are both on minus 64.

The Prime Minister had a negative approval rating in all seven European countries surveyed, although she was significantly more popular than Mr Trump and Mr Putin in all but Germany.

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Show all 6

1/6The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Brexit

The big one. Theresa May has spoken publicly three times since declaring her intent to stand in the Tory Leadership race, and each time she has said, ‘Brexit means Brexit.’ It sounds resolute, but it is helpful to her that Brexit is a made up word with no real meaning. She has said there will be ‘no second referendum’ and no re-entry in to the EU via the back door. But she, like the Leave campaign of which she was not a member, has pointedly not said with any precision what she thinks Brexit means

Reuters

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

General election

This is very much one to keep off the to do list. She said last week there would be ‘no general election’ at this time of great instability. But there have already been calls for one from opposition parties. The Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2010 makes it far more difficult to call a snap general election, a difficulty she will be in no rush to overcome. In the event of a victory for Leadsom, who was not popular with her own parliamentary colleagues, an election might have been required, but May has the overwhelming backing of the parliamentary party

Getty

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

HS2

Macbeth has been quoted far too much in recent weeks, but it will be up to May to decide whether, with regard to the new high speed train link between London, Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north, ‘returning were as tedious as go o’er.’ Billions have already been spent. But the £55bn it will cost, at a bare minimum, must now be considered against the grim reality of significantly diminished public finances in the short to medium term at least. It is not scheduled to be completed until 2033, by which point it is not completely unreasonable to imagine a massive, driverless car-led transport revolution having rendered it redundant

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Heathrow expansion

Or indeed Gatwick expansion. Or Boris Island, though that option is seems as finished as the man himself. The decision on where to expand aviation capacity in the south east has been delayed to the point of becoming a national embarrassment. A final decision was due in autumn. Whatever is decided, there will be vast opprobrium

PA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Trident renewal

David Cameron indicated two days ago that there will be a Commons vote on renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent on July 18th, by which point we now know, Ms May will be Prime Minister. The Labour Party is, to put it mildly, divided on the issue. This will be an early opportunity to maximise their embarrassment, and return to Tory business as usual

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Scottish Independence

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are in no doubt that the Brexit vote provides the opportunity for a second independence referendum, in which they can emerge victorious. The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has the authority to call a second referendum, but Ms May and the British Parliament are by no means automatically compelled to accept the result. She could argue it was settled in 2014

AFP/Getty

She was most well-regarded in Norway, where her rating was minus 9, followed by Denmark (minus 10), Finland (minus 12), Sweden (minus 14) and France (minus 23).

Mr Putin sank to a score of minus 78 in Denmark while Mr Trump dropped even lower in the same country to minus 80.

Mr Macron and Ms Merkel, on the other hand, are hugely popular across Europe, although more so in other countries than their own. The highest rating in the survey is the plus 56 the German Chancellor scores in Denmark, closely followed by plus 50 for French President Mr Macron in Germany.

The two leaders, who have formed a close relationship at the heart of the EU, have double-digital approval ratings in every country bar France for Mr Macron, where he scored plus seven. Ms Merkel was on plus 17 in Germany.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies