Putin now among most hated world figures in recent U.S. history

Here’s how he compares to others, such as Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Un and Ayatollah Khomeini

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By Aaron Blake

Staff writer

Yesterday at 1:17 p.m. EST

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020 in Damascus. (Alexei Druzhinin/AP)

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As recently as a decade ago, about half of Americans had a positive view of Russia. And even after Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, 22 percent of Americans — including 37 percent of Republicans — said they still had a favorable view of President Vladimir Putin.

Times have certainly changed.

A new poll from the Wall Street Journal on Friday reinforced that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned Putin into what can only be described as a pariah. Fully 90 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of the Russian president (86 percent “very unfavorable”), while just 4 percent have a favorable one.

That’s down from a 75-to-13 split last week in another poll. And both polls show negative views of Putin are exceedingly bipartisan now.