Washington - A new opinion poll showed that the number of Americans - who consider Russian President Vladimir Putin a strong leader - exceeds their peers who see President Joe Biden as well.

Only 30% of 1,500 Americans surveyed by TouGov - between January 29 and February 1 - described Biden as a strong president, while 57% of them considered Putin a strong president.

These results come at a time when the diplomatic path to resolving the Ukrainian crisis is closed, as the two presidents made a "critical" call in the middle of Saturday, amid Biden's warning to Putin against invading Ukraine, threatening "quick and severe consequences" if Russian forces crossed the border into Ukraine.

While the White House hopes to find a diplomatic solution to the tension with Russia that prevents it from invading Ukraine, fears are growing that war could break out at any moment, as US intelligence officials assert.


long history

Biden and Putin have a long history of relations over recent decades. They met several times while the former was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Biden also met more than once with Putin while he was Vice President Barack Obama between 2008 and 2016.

After Biden came to power, he stated in a television interview last March that he believed Putin was a "murderer" and then added during a later press briefing that he was speaking truthfully when he described him as such.

Putin's reaction was ambiguous, and he said in an interview with "ABC" that he was not surprised, "The term killer, like the term macho, is common in Hollywood, and such rhetoric is part of the American political culture where it is considered normal there, and it is not considered normal." here".

Relations between Moscow and Washington deteriorated to their lowest levels since the end of the Cold War, and this did not prevent the two presidents from meeting face to face in Geneva last June, and then holding several virtual meetings several times via video-conference to discuss the Ukrainian crisis.

Biden and Putin (left) met several times, including when the first was Vice President Barack Obama (right) (European)

Strong but Americans don't like it

Although many Americans polled see Putin as a stronger leader, they generally favor Biden and view him as more honest.

More than a third of Americans surveyed had a favorable opinion of Biden, while only 9% had a favorable view of Putin.

The two leaders were equal to similar degrees when it came to trust, with 39% of Americans saying Biden was honest and trustworthy, compared to just 6% of Putin.

On the other hand, a Morning Consult poll revealed that 34% of Americans know where Ukraine is on a map, while 66% couldn't locate it on a blank map of Europe (which contains no information).

An American poll - conducted on February 7, 2005, in which people participated - showed that citizens oppose war against Russia, and do not prefer making concessions to it to avoid war at the same time.

But Americans know they don't like Russia, with 3 in 4 people saying they consider it a serious threat to their country, and 60% saying the same about President Putin.

They also view the Russian president very negatively, only 9% view him positively, and 6% say Putin is honest and trustworthy.