These are the results of a recent YouGov/Handelsblatt poll on which leader the citizens of the G20 countries want to see as the next US President.
Russia is the only country where more people, by a considerable margin, support Donald Trump becoming US President (31%) than support Hillary Clinton (10%).
This might come as a surprise to some of you considering how many Russians and (((Russians))) have been writing anti-Trump jeremiads in both the Western and Russian press:
- Famous activist for Russian democracy (in WSJ op-eds and Vilnius conferences) Garry Kasparov.
- Pussy Riot.
- Basically everybody in the skinny jeans-wearing, Jean Jacques cafe-frequenting, pseudointellectual Gazprom-subsidized Echo of Moscow crowd: Glorified photographer Ilya Varlamov, Karina Orlova, and the high priestess of Living Not By Lies herself, Evgeniya Albats.
- Democratic journalist “Putin stole my wallet” Anne Applebaum.
- Democratic journalist “Putin stole my dry cleaning ticket” Miriam Elder.
- Democratic journalist “Je Suis Refugee (from pro-Putin Russian Cattle)” Julia Ioffe.
- Democratic journalist “Je Suis Fromage” Masha Gessen.
- Editor of The Moscow Times, once the most prominent newspaper for Western expats in Russia, Michael Bohm segues seamlessly from Putin Derangement Syndrome to TDS.
Which just goes to show that whenever you see a Russian writing in an American mainstream media publication, its usually safe to assume the truth is the exact opposite of whatever he or she says.
Here is how one /r/The_Donald user described his “awakening”:
Thats actually really cool to hear. I will admit, I ate up our medias picture of Russia and never had much positive to say, but this election has made me do my own research and you all seem pretty bad ass. I would like to say sorry for being a cuck and hopefully we can become strong allies in the future.
Ultimately, as the only major candidate who doesn’t want to fight a New Cold War with Russia, it stands to reason the most Russians with an opinion on US politics support Trump.
Putin’s near endorsement of Trump as a “bright and talented person” would have also helped.
As Irish journalist Danielle Ryan points out, it’s not like Trump is likely to magically transform relations between the US and Russia. And certainly those corners of the internets who dream of a Western Alliance between a Trumpian America and Putin’s Russia to remove kebab are deluded (even if they are ironically deluded… or delusively ironic… or whatever).
It’s a nice dream though.
However, there is the basic perception that Russia will get along better with a straightforward American patriot than an empty suit (or empty dress?) ideological stooge of neocon and globalist agendas.
I expect the 10% of Russians for Hillary Clinton are mostly Westernists/zapadniks who reliably support the politically correct line of the “international community” against Russia. (However, I think it’s safe to say that Clinton also has a massive anti-rating in Russia. Bill Clinton’s war against Serbia – which resulted in the first major spike in anti-American sentiment in post-Soviet Russia’s history – is still remembered negatively. And many Russians are aware of Hillary Clinton’s warm relations with liberal “neocons in other words” interventionists).
This zapadnik constituency who support Hillary Clinton are not feeling the Bern because they tend to be virulently anti-socialist in the style of Garry Kasparov*:
I’m enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.
Really the only group of people who would support Sanders in Russia are the liberal leftist anti-globalist ecological hippie types but they’re only 1-2% of the population, or an order of magnitude lower even than the zapadnik liberals.
As for Cruz, literally the only Russian of any prominence I’ve found who supports him is the Christian Orthodox fanatic and renowned lolcow Dmitry Enteo:
FWIW Russia's foremost Orthodox Christian crazy fanatic Enteo endorses Cruz and condemns Trump. https://t.co/gpiX1iANRS
— Anatoly Karlin (@powerfultakes) March 16, 2016
There are no major surprises in the rest of the rankings.
(1) On average the more “cucked” countries support Hillary Clinton more.
(2) Mexico is at the top and one can’t really fault them for that.
(3) China seems to intuitively support Trump. They too have their issues with the Clintons in the form of the bombing of their Belgrade embassy in 1998. However, they are also understandably a bit put off by Trump’s relatively more bellicose rhetoric against their country, plus as the survey notes, China’s – and India’s and Indonesia’s – respondents were all queried online. The part of the Chinese population that is regularly online and presumably likelier to participate in such polls is demographically younger and presumably more globalist.
(4) Apparently not all Saudis share Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s negative assessment of Trump (or maybe they really don’t like the idea of a woman at the helm):
.@realDonaldTrump
You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.Withdraw from the U.S presidential race as you will never win.
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) December 11, 2015
Finally, I would note that the US Presidential Elections haven’t really gotten going yet, so many foreign opinions of Trump vs. Clinton will be quite hazy and uncertain at this point. International opinion will become clearer as we approach November 2016.
- At least when Kasparov’s writing in English in Facebook or The WSJ, as opposed to riling up protest crowds in Moscow, when for some reason his rhetoric becomes remarkably leftist.
Data from, say, Iran would be interesting. Not to mention Libya – the demographic profile of Clinton supporters in Libya…
This is a result of the relentless demonization of Trump as well as a total lack of scrutiny on Mrs. Elisabeth Bathory Meets Bonnie Tyler. That is the only reason why someone from Italy or France would prefer a supporter of the Iraq war and a destroyer of Lybia.
If Trump has any brains, he should go full Daisy Ad on her right from the beginning.
Loved your graphic with Trump congratulating Putin on retaking Constantinople. Coincidentally, April 8th is my birthday. That’d be one hell of a birthday present if it were to happen!
American (and presumably European) far-right fantasies about Putin are amusing. Reality: http://www.vdare.com/posts/ramadan-muslims-fill-moscow-streets
Makes sense i think. A problem for China/Russia is the standard candidates are just puppets for factions behind the throne so they never really know who they’re dealing with whereas Trump is Trump.
Maybe the Chinese can genetically breed him a Griffon.
We live in a global insane asylum.
People in Europe believe Trump is more anti-Russian and more likely to start WWIII because the media blatantly lie about it and the average person doesn’t check.
A good Trump ad for Europe (no reason to do it but just cos) would be a collection of clips of
– him talking about Putin
– Putin talking about Trump
– the other candidates talking about punching Russia on the nose etc
with no commentary
Sure, the point is relative to the sort of corrupt or blackmailed stooges the corporate oligarchy foist on voters in the West he’s relatively good.
Here in Germany public opinion is totally against Trump, which isn’t that surprising since a lot of Germans get their view of the US from mainstream German media which are reliable mouthpieces for the liberal/globalist narrative (and have a strong bias towards the Democrats; Bill Clinton is remembered rather fondly in Germany, misguided as that may be). Negative views of Trump extend well beyond “cucked” persons though; I recently spoke to a female acquaintance who has an extremely negative view of Muslim immigrants and thinks the present situation is a disaster…and even she was afraid of Trump being US president.
Personally I think that’s misguided (I’m much more afraid what Hillary – who in my opinion will likely be the next president – will do in international affairs; also, under her the US will remain the major promoter of the multiculturalism/mass immigration/antiracism agenda). But to be honest I don’t quite understand the enthusiasm a lot of people here have for Trump…sure, he says some things I would find extremely attractive as well if I were American (immigration restriction, protectionism, restraint in some foreign policy areas – like relations with Russia – coupled with unabashed pursuit of American interests in others). But it seems questionable to me if he’s trustworthy and wouldn’t sell out his supporters.
Most of Europe doesn’t really think much about Putin or Russia. Easterners do but in Poland and Baltic states they’re freaking out precisely because they think Trump might be more sympathetic to Russia. In Finland and Sweden we’re currently seeing a massive propaganda campaign about how Putin proves that we need NATO and naturally our media absolutely hates Trump.
It’s really more about things like Iraq and Libya. I just keep meeting people who tell me how afraid they are that Trump is going to start wars all over the planet and then we’ll get the refugees and it’s impossible to convince them otherwise because all the media repeats over and over again that Trump is the warmongering type who wants to bomb everyone. No one knows anything about the track record of the Clintons and the Democrats on war because those things are never talked about in out press.
It’s really amazing how controlled our press is. Finland is particularly outrageous because Russia keeps trying to set up alternative media in this country and our government just keeps banning it. Yet I just read about how American think thanks have yet again rated our glorious country as the world leader in press freedom…
Telling westerners lies about Russia has become an entire academic specialization.
That means Russians are doing something right.
There is really no comparison at all: Russian government doesn’t have the policy of displacing Russians with non-white immigrants. These are temporary guest workers, they don’t collect benefits and they don’t breed in the country.
Putin is not a nationalist, mind you, but he is a far cry from western hostile elite.
It does, the mostly Muslim (many are “white” btw) immigrant population of Russia has skyrocketed since the end of the Yeltsin regime. Moscow already has more Muslims than any city in Europe besides Istanbul and Putin wants to give amnesty to around 15 million illegals.
I recently spoke to a female acquaintance who has an extremely negative view of Muslim immigrants and thinks the present situation is a disaster…and even she was afraid of Trump being US president.
Rightwingers/patriots/conservatives/alt-righters are often able to see through the lies that their home country’s media is pumping out and yet they can easily fall prey to leftist propaganda manufactured in another country.
It takes a person with unusually diversified sources of information to be able to tell the lies that they’re told about the domestic politics of other countries. In my own country, whenever they’re talking about the UK, they refer the listener or reader to the Guardian. Whenever the local journalists are talking about France, they refer the listener or reader to Libération, a far far far left rag. What happens is that a lot of educated people here, both left and right leaning, know the UK and France only through the lens of The Guardian and Libération. Similarly, a reasonable rightwing German person probably on the NYT for their american news.
lol, that’s news to me. There is nothing about it in Russian or international media, apart from a stupid stormfront link. Why are you spreading lies?
That is because Russia got much wealthier and many Russians did not want to do certain jobs for a low pay.
It is also the most populous city in Europe.
Source?
The number looks BS to me.
It would be many times the number of legal guest workers.
It’s a nice populistic talking point but not a very fair or well-considered one.
For a start, Moscow is also by far the biggest city in Europe.
Of the officially registered population, around 350,000 belong to Muslim ethnicities (of which almost half are those well known Tatar extremists s/). A 2010 estimate put the numbers of undocumented workers at 1 million, of which a majority come from Central Asia (however plenty of Moldovans, Ukrainians, Georgians, etc. too). These figures are highly unlikely to have risen since then and if anything fell following the devaluation. Muslim population of Moscow: Probably 7%, 10% at the most. I.e., 1 million-1.5 million.
The 2 million Muslims in Moscow figure comes from Muslim organizations who wish to exaggerate their numbers for lobbying purposes (e.g. building more mosques).
Note even these figures are for members belonging to Muslim ethnicities, and not necessarily Muslims per se.
Despite their advantages in geography, Paris and London are both 10%+ Muslim. London in particular is 12.4% Muslim according to the 2011 Census.
Considering that more than 10% of Russian citizens belong to Muslim ethnic groups, and that it borders Muslim Central Asia whereas the UK has no traditionally Muslim indigenous ethnic groups at all, the fact that London and (50%+ bigger) Moscow have roughly comparable amounts of Muslims nonetheless is quite remarkable.
UK and France had Muslim colonies, so many Muslims there is not so remarkable (Sweden and Germany are another story). In contrast America has much fewer Muslims relatively speaking.
The Eurasian Customs Unions is about 25%-30% Muslim. What do you figure the EU Muslim population to be? I’d estimate somewhere between 5% and 10%.
Uh, sorry I don’t read stormfront, but that’s good to know I guess http://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/2009/10/07/1879230.html
Considering how much distance was between UK’s Islamic-dominated colonies and Britain, it is remarkable how many Muslims ended up in Britain.
Germany had at least one colony with plenty of Muslims, German East Africa whose capital had an Arabic name.
The good news is that the immigrants in Russia (mostly but not all Muslim), usually speak Russian and are much less “alien” than the US and Western Europe’s immigrants are to their host populations, so some will assimilate; the bad news is that they are very numerous and the indigenous population is shrinking or at best maintaining.
http://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/2009/10/07/1879230.html – Seriously? Nothing in this rambling article says about “Putin’s Amnesty”. In fact Russia’s immigration policy only hardened since 2009.
If this is the best you can do, you should apologise. Why are you spreading BS about my country?
Not my fault you’re too lazy to look up information that’s easily available to the contrary. Have fun in the Emirate of Moscow, maybe they’ll make krokodil halal
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/citizenship-pathways/russia.php
http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2012-06-20/a-new-concept-migration-policy-russia
http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/news/17280
Sounds like you have some kind of grudge against Putin and Russia, but you’ve clearly picked a bad place to spread your Russophobic nonsense. There is plenty of better educated people here, who can easily disprove you.
Sure enough, there is lots of migrants in Russia, and probably more than necessary, but I’m not too worried about Tajik street cleaners taking over my city. Berlin will become Islamic long before Moscow does.
Putin is a scumbag. As bad as Yeltsin was, he didn’t hunt down nationalists (not that I care about neo-Nazi idiots) or allow immigration on that kind of scale. I hope I’m wrong, FSU Muslims are mostly secular at least, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar et al have been trying to change that.
I have lived in Germany for over 8 years, and just two months ago I had one of the weirdest experiences since I’ve been here. Some woman I didn’t even know starting begging me, pleading with me, not to vote for Trump as soon as she found out I was from the US. It was totally out of context, and I had never even raised the issue of politics. But the poor girl just seemed near hysterics.
Then it occurred to me: in the unlikely event that Trump were to win the election, he might actually–and perhaps unintentionally–precipitate the break-up of NATO, which would be a real blow for peace in Europe!
In what sense?
Dude, you are taking some potent sh.t, which certainly prevents you to operate with facts from reality.
“What’s it worth to you, baby?”
The Guardian is just vile, given the stuff they publish it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that their view of Britain is highly distorted. But then a lot of people probably don’t realize how bad the situation is and how deep the rot goes.
The media in Europe are lying through their teeth about Trump on foreign policy – it’s particularly sick since it’s the media who have been trying to drum up support for war with Russia since the gas attack in Syria.
Yes, you’re right – I was thinking of the sound bites from the other candidates talking about punching Putin on the nose (over Syria) or shooting Russian jets down (in Syria) etc – the context is general war-mongering with Putin sometimes added as an addendum.
The more I think of it the more I think a youtube video compiling all the candidate’s war-mongery statements and comparing them to Trump would be fun.
Behold the Power of Trump!
The most dramatic thing that Donald Trump could do in respect to NATO would be to withdraw the United States from it. (Charles de Gaulle did something similar in the 1960s.) That would mean the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany and U.S. bases in the UK and whereever the hell else they are (Italy, I think). How does that endanger the peace? If the rest of Europe wants to defend itself from Russia it is much more populous and wealthy, and both France and Great Britain have nuclear weapons. What that German woman wants to continue is the free ride that Europe gets by American involvement in the defense of a continent that has the means to defend itself. Time for the U.S. to shed itself of that burden, and of many other now pointless Cold War commitments. Donald Trump would at least look at the situation with fresh eyes.
? There was not much immigration during the Yeltsin years. Obviously there was less incentive to immigrate, but the fact remains.
Yeah, tell me about it–granted I had to deal with many of those “not having incentives”. Fact remains–borders were wide opened but what do I know about it, after all, I was the one who had a lot to do with borders.
An interesting new direction in the liberal propaganda narrative is to blame Russia not just for the rise of Trump and the European New Right, but to use the Six Degrees of Alexander Dugin game in order to blame Russia for the entire history of the racist American “far right”.
I know that sounds completely insane, but really this is the new line.
It is on display in a book from the Carnegie Council which is supposedly the product of an intense two year project to understand Russia, Eurasianism and the ENR.
Here is the Carnegie podcast about it with the authors and a transcript:
https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20160412/index.html
Video: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/85594501
They have an open comments section at the bottom of the podcast transcript 😉
The book is: Eurasianism and the European Far Right
http://www.amazon.com/Eurasianism-European-Far-Right-Europe-Russia/dp/149851068X
Do not bother with the book in hope of actually learning anything useful or true about Eurasianism or the ENR. (They have an entire chapter devoted to the GRA website that hadn’t been updated in two years when they went to press.)
Go read Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century instead.
Another interesting poll here:
https://russiareviewed.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/surprising-russia-2.pdf
I have no idea as to the reliability of those who prepared it
Honest question here:
Why would Russian support for Trump be any sort of reason to support him as President of the USA? (Apart from the /pol/ fantasy of Putin as leader of the white race which I don’t think has much to support it IRL.)
To some extent, Russia and America are rival powers. Russians want their country to do well. If they think Trump is good for Russia…does that mean he would be good for America?
“Why would Russian support for Trump be any sort of reason to support him as President of the USA?”
Because the psychopathic, bilious U.S./Western enmity towards Russia and Russians as the “Eternal Hated Other” who must forever be opposed in any and everything needs to end somehow; and it’d be much better if it ended WITHOUT a massive, possibly nuclear, war resulting in the demolition of what remains of European and/or European-origin North American culture, society, civilization, and power, you dumb brainwashed cuckhead.
The reason Russians like Trump is not because he will be good for Russia, it’s just he is the only major US pol who didn’t publicly commit himself to war with Russia – everyone else is talking about shooting down Russian planes, punching Russians in the nose etc…
And honestly, unless you think US foreign policy is not belligerent enough, why would you vote for any non-Trump politician?
I see no reason why the United States and Russia need be rivals. What legitimate interests does the United States have that Russia seeks to thwart? Where is Russia even purportedly aggressive in areas where the U.S. has vital interests, or in which the indigeneous powers don’t have the wherewithall to conduct an adequate defense in the absence of U.S. involvement? The only sense in which Russia is a rival to the United States is to the assertion of hegemony that a delusional American elite seeks. Trump appears not to have bought into that way of thinking, so it’s no wonder Russians like him. As one other poster put it, it seems like he’s the only candidate who isn’t spoiling for a (pointless) fight with Russia.
Great post, Diversity Heretic. Very well and succinctly put. A huge thumbs up!
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, which is why I respect both Putin and Trump, while being appropriately suspicious of both.
We’re both pretty big (I’m ready to give them Ukraine, but Poland?), though I agree the warmer our relations, the better. A USA-Russia war could be the war to end all wars–literally.
I just have my doubts about Trump the person (yes, I support immigration restriction and putting the USA, rather than Israel or anyone else first), and kind of wonder why Russians would have our best interests in mind (rather than theirs). But–fair enough, he is the least aggressive toward Russia, and that would be naturally of paramount importance for many Russians.
I grew up in NYC, and all I remember was the guy slapping his name on a variety of tacky, overpriced stuff and going bankrupt every few years. So I’m not sure he’s not playing blue-collar whites the way he played all his investors. But if he doesn’t hate Russia, that would be a big plus to Russians.
During the debates, which were available for anyone to view had they any interest, Trump was the only one who seemed to express common-sense sentiments of respecting boundaries and recognizing that other countries may have their own viewpoints and wish to feel secure. All the others vied with each other for who could be the most belligerent, using Russia as the pinata. In this I realized that either they were playing to what they believed to be a gullible and manipulable American public or that they were divorced from reality. If the former then they revealed a certain shabbiness of character, secretly holding the American public in contempt; if the latter then they’ve been too isolated working in government jobs all this time. Trump seemed like the practical man with a background of actually having done things rather than engaging in theoretical blathering. Clinton is a female Caligula while the avuncular Sanders is just a utopian theorist of no actual accomplishment.
The major media are owned by the billionaires and so are the western politicians. It’s just a matter of which faction of billionaires get the upper hand for the next 4-8 years, not that one faction would try to ruin the others since they are all gentlemen. The media pretty well shapes the views of the bulk of the public in most of these countries, otherwise why should anyone in Italy or Germany even care enough to mumble any answer at all about American candidates?
Russians do not want Poland.
In fact, they do not care much about this country.
It is neither part of the post-Soviet near abroad nor the wealthy West.
Russia is the cuckest country of Europe.The migrant per-capita ratio in Russia is higher than in Germany or France.
Also Putin has been backing Hillary by some mysterious reason.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/05/hillary-clinton-ties-emerge-in-panama-papers/
Poland IS the wealthy West.Especially when compared to the poverty stricken Russia.
Minimum wage in Poland is €431, 5 times higher than in Russia (€81).
The average salary in Poland in €800, while it is €360 in Russia (and it is under 300 without Moscow)
The life expectancy in Poland is 77 years, it is 70 years in Russia.
As of 2016 there are 3,274.67km of highways (motorways) in Poland as compared to none in russia (at least nonwe which would qualify as a highway per European standards)
It is still lagging well behind us, especially the Polish East.
They have nearly the same GDP (PPP) per capita.
The gap in the nominal GDP per capita between Poland and Russia is smaller than between Poland and Czechia.
Source?
Life expectancy in Russia is 72 years and it is growing faster than in Poland.
Why would Russia have EU-highways?
All BS.
A guy from Azerbaijan was telling me just yesterday that there are 2 million Azeris living in Moscow alone. Maybe he was pulling those number out of his ass, but the context wasn’t him bragging, it was him describing why he had a big market for Azeri food products in Moscow. Add to that all the Tajiks, Chechens, Dagestanis, Kalmyks, Uzbeks and Tatars running around Moscow and Piter, and it becomes easy to see why a lot of Russian nationalists are no fans of Putin.
If you follow the birth rates, death rates and population changes between censuses in Azerbaijan, you can tell that guy’s full of it. Meanwhile, of the seven nationalities you list, only three are immigrants.
Official number of Azeris in Russia was less than 600k and it decreased slightly in 2014.
The minimum wage in Russia is there for symbolic reasons. Nobody actually gets paid it.
The cost of living in Russia is substantially lower than in Poland, especially after the devaluation of the ruble.
Russia’s low life expectancy has little to do with poverty and is almost entirely a result of its (declining) vodka bingeing traditions. The poorest (conservative Muslim) areas of Russia have life expectancies on par with those of East-Central Europe.
This is not to argue that Russian living standards are higher than in Poland, which is not true, but to imply that the gap between Poland and, say, Germany, is smaller than that between Russian and Poland, is completely ridiculous.
Is there any reason to think Putin wants to invade Europe?
Aside from some former Soviet Republics.
The less critical views of Canadians, compared with Britons and Germans, highlights the brainwashing effect of the MSM. Canadians are no more right-leaning or nationalistic than Britons, but they are much better informed about US domestic politics. Hence, even though Canadians are just as liberal as other westerners, they have a more balanced view on Trump than westerners in more distant countries.
“It’s a nice dream though.”
The Retaking Eurabia memes seem more credible (although Turkey will probably be in ‘Europe’ or ‘The Euro-Med Axis’ by then). Realistically though it’s much more likely to be Putin & Trump’s successors, and Trump’s successor at least will likely face pressure to bomb the good guys (those ‘evil racist nationalist dead-ender white’ Europeans/Christians), in support of the bad guys. The US/NATO did it in Serbia, it’s not a huge stretch to see a US President doing the same in France or England.