A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 20 nations around the world finds that none of the national leaders on the world stage inspire wide confidence. While US President George W. Bush is one of the least trusted leaders, no other leader-including China's Hu Jintao and Russia's Vladimir Putin-has gained a broad international base of support. As Newsweek put it, "In a sense, they're all Bushes now."

Only UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon received largely positive ratings, while Vladimir Putin, Gordon Brown and Hu Jintao, low as their poll ratings were, emerged as the least mistrusted. President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistani  had the poorest ratings around the world. Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh did not fogure on the list of leaders to be voted as he was ranked as a regional leader from Asia and was polled only from among Asian countries.

The leaders selected for a vote were:

President George W. Bush                  United States
President Nicolas Sarkozy                   France
Prime Minister Gordon Brown            Great Britain
President Vladimir Putin                      Russia
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon         United Nations
President Hu Jintao                              China
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad         Iran
President Pervez Musharraf                  Pakistan

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon received largely positive ratings in a worldwide poll that asked respondents whether they trusted international leaders ''to do the right thing regarding world affairs.'' WorldPublicOpinion.org conducted the poll of 19,751 respondents in nations that comprise 60 per cent of the world's population. This includes most of the largest nations-China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia-as well as Mexico, Argentina, Britain, France, Spain, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Jordan, Iran,Turkey, the Palestinian territories, South Korea and Thailand. Fielding was conducted between January 10 and May 6. The margins of error range from +/-2 to 4 percent.

WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative research project involving research centers from around the world, is managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. Sixteen of the 20 publics surveyed say they lack confidence in US President George W.Bush. Only Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf is rated negatively in more nations.

Just two countries (Nigeria and India) give Bush positive ratings while a third (Thailand) is divided. Bush also got the highest average percentage of negative ratings (67 per cent ). Although China is a rising world power, most publics do not express confidence in Chinese President Hu Jintao. Thirteen publics give Hu predominantly negative ratings while only five (Nigeria, South Korea, Iran, Azerbaijan and Ukraine) tend to be positive.

India is divided. On average 44 per cent of those surveyed around the world show little or no confidence in the Chinese leader; only 28 per cent express some or a lot of confidence. (In all cases the leader's own public is excluded from the count of countries and the average rating.) Vladimir Putin remains popular inside Russia as he makes the transition from president to prime minister but he has not emerged as an attractive world leader. Eleven publics have a negative view of Putin while just five are positive and three are divided. On average 32 per cent express confidence in Putin- one of the highest positive ratings-but a larger 48 per cent do not. No region has predominantly positive views onPutin's global leadership.

Putin appears to have become a divisive figure. Although his ratings have improved slightly since a 2007 poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the large positive movement in certain countries-such as China, where Putin's ratings are up 17 points-is balanced by negative movement in others-such as the United States, where his ratings are down 21 points.

''While the worldwide mistrust of George Bush has created a global leadership vacuum, no alternative leader has stepped into the breach,'' said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org. ''Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin are popular among some nations, but more mistrust them than trust them. Also the nations that trust them are not organized into any clusters that have the potential to be a meaningful bloc.''

The only world leader to elicit largely positive views is UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon. In nine nations a plurality or majority say they have some or a lot of confidence in him to do the right thing. In eight nations a plurality or majority say they have little or no confidence. Three nations are divided. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, though relatively new to the world stage, getspositive ratings in six nations, more than any other chief of state. Nonetheless, even more publics (11) say they do not trust the British leader. Two (France and Thailand) are divided.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has the poorest ratings around the world. Only in China do positive views (37 per cent ) outweigh negative ones (30 per cent ). Nigeria is divided and the other 18 nations lean negative.In the Middle East publics are generally the most negative: Egyptians, Jordanians, Iranians and the Palestinians express little or no confidence in nearly all of the leaders rated.

Although France gets positive ratings in other international polls, President Nicolas Sarkozy does not. Fifteen out of 19 nations rate his international leadership unfavorably.On average, 25 per cent of those surveyed express confidence in Sarkozy to do right thing while 48 per cent express little or no confidence. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gets negative ratings in 13 nations, the most after Bush and Musharraf. Only three nations are slightly positive while one is divided.

On average across the 17 nations (excluding Iranians) asked about Ahmadinejad, only 22 per cent say they have some or a lot of confidence, while 52 per cent say they have little or no confidence.

Although confidence in Ahmadinejad is up slightly from polling conducted by Pew in 2007, he is still far from being viewed as a credible leader, even in the Muslim world. Majorities in all four Arab nations surveyed (Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories) say they lack confidence in Ahmadinejad. So does a majority in Turkey, including 54 per cent who say they have ''no confidence at all.'' Only in Indonesia does a bare plurality view Ahmadinejad favorably as an international leader. More information, www.WorldPublicOpinion.org.