Feeling depressed about the state of the world? Worried about the future? You’re not alone. Pessimism about politics is the new normal among the peoples of the west. Major conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and the harms caused by right-left extremism, stagnating economies, inequality, corruption, terrorism, racism, big tech, mass extinctions and the climate crisis make for shared nightmares.

Growing numbers of people simply refuse to personally engage with current events via the news media, finding them too anxiety-inducing (so they probably won’t be reading this). In a Reuters Institute survey last year, 40% of respondents in about 50 countries said they sometimes or often avoid the news altogether, a rise of 29% on 2017.

Intense negativity characterises European and, to a lesser degree, North American political sentiment. In France, 90% of people questioned by Ipsos believed their country is on the wrong track. In Britain, it was 79%; in Germany, 77%; in the US, 60%. Europeans feel similarly glum about the bigger, global picture, unlike the Chinese, Saudis and Nigerians who are broadly upbeat, according to a GlobeScan survey.

Pew Research Center polling in 25 countries last year found that the US, Russia and China are seen, by most but not all, as the biggest international threats. For Turks, for example, Israel is the main menace; for Greeks, it’s the Turks. It gets more confusing still. Canada is one of several countries in which majorities regard the US as both the main threat and main ally.

Disenchantment with democracy and dissatisfaction with political leaders is a ubiquitous, polarising western phenomenon. Divisions grow entrenched. Keir Starmer, with a 27% approval rating, according to Statista, is struggling to survive. Yet Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, are even less popular, on 19% and 18% respectively.

Donald Trump is down to about 38% approval, trailing his nemesis,........

© The Guardian