Sentiment of global leaders in online press in Germany 2017-2023
In Germany, online articles mentioning the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian President Vladimir Putin had the most negative tone among the global leaders presented, based on the average sentiment score in 2023. Putin's average sentiment score, measured at -3.22 in 2023, having decreased from the previous year, while Zelenskyy's score stood at -2.3. The scores were negative due to the fact that most articles mentioning the politicians were related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The sentiment score of Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, increased to -1.33 in 2023 from -1.75 in the previous year. His predecessor, Angela Merkel, had a sentiment score of -0.75 in 2023, the highest over the observed period. Another German politician and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had a score of -0.62 in 2023.