eggathuru/pew-2026-global-positivity

Generalized positivity in the Pew Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey: verified topline extraction, per-country indices, and charts (Kenya edition) # Generalized positivity in the Pew Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey Some publics rate *everyone* — the U.S., Russia, Israel, and world leaders on both sides of every geopolitical divide — more favorably than others. This repo extracts country-level favorability/confidence data from the Pew Research Center Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey toplines, builds per-country "generalized positivity" indices, and produces the charts below. Kenya, which prompted the whole exercise, ranks #1 of 37 publics on net confidence in world leaders while sitting in a rich-country neighborhood of deep negativity toward almost all of them. ## Charts ### 1. Nobody polls well Average favorable/unfavorable balance across all surveyed publics, for the three countries and six leaders Pew asked about. Every single target is underwater on average — the interesting variation is *who* is underwater by how much, and where. ### 2. Kenya likes almost everybody Kenya vs. the cross-public average, the U.S., and the most negative public in the set (Sweden). Kenya is above average on all nine targets — Xi *and* Trump, Putin *and* Zelenskyy — which alignment alone cannot explain. Note the exception that proves it's not pure acquiescence: Kenyans dislike Russia as a country (37% favorable, 59% unfavorable) even while half trust Putin. ### 3. Positivity tracks (inversely) with income Mean net favorability toward the U.S., Russia and Israel vs. GDP per capita (World Bank, PPP, 2024). r = −0.55 against log GDP per capita; the leader index gives the same −0.55. ## Data All favorability numbers are machine-extracted from three published Pew topline PDFs (fieldwork Feb 8 – May 13, 2026; 37 publics; ~45k respondents): | Release | Topline | Used for | |---|---|---| | June 4, 2026 | Global views of Israel | Israel favorability, Netanyahu confidence | | June 23, 2026 | U.S. image | U.S. favorability; Trump, Xi, Putin, Macron, Netanyahu, Zelenskyy confidence | | July 6, 2026 | Global views of …