Poll: Obama is most trusted world leader

COLLEGE PARK, Md., June 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is the most trusted leader in the world, a survey conducted in 20 nations indicated.

The poll, conducted April 4 to June 12 by WorldPublicOpinion.org, found 61 percent of those surveyed expressed a lot or some confidence in Obama. The finding, released Monday, comes one year after former President George W. Bush was found in the survey to be one of the world's least trusted leaders.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ranked second in the current poll. The survey said Ban's evaluations across all countries polled were positive.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin registered the most negative confidence ratings among all world leaders.

WorldPublicOpinion.org -- a research project utilizing research centers around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland -- surveyed 19,224 respondents in nations that account for 62 percent of the global population, including China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Russia. The poll was also conducted in Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, France, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and South Korea.

"At this moment Obama occupies a unique position in the eyes of the world," said Stephen J. Weber of WorldPublicOpinion.org, "His communication skills and the change he represents create an open door for him to engage people around the world."

Margins of error range from 3 percentage points to 4 percentage points.