Who's In, Who's Out at the G-20

AP Photo & Getty Images As the world’s top leaders gather in Pittsburgh for this week’s great powers summit, The Daily Beast breaks down who has the most political capital to spend.

WINNERS

Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images Kevin Rudd

Since winning the 2007 election in a media-proclaimed “Ruddslide,” Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has become a political rock star. According to the latest figures, the prime minister’s approval rating has reached 64 percent, the highest it’s been in six months. Financial strife and high unemployment rates have hobbled most of the world’s leading powers. But Rudd reports that Australia was the only country out of the 33 in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that experienced economic growth in the past year and has the second lowest unemployment rate among all major first-world countries, as well the lowest debt and deficit levels. Put that on the barbie and fire it up, G-20!

Vatican Pool / Getty Images Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

A self-deprecating Barack Obama called him the “most popular president in the world.” And with a 67 percent approval rating, it’s hard to deny the two-term Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that mantle. Lula, as his country affectionately calls him, has presided over the Latin American nation during a period of significant growth. A former factory worker with a fifth-grade education, he credibly presents himself as a humble populist who has helped make Brazil a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Since recently declaring his move toward Brazilian economic independence, President da Silva shocked foreign oil companies with his plan to ensure his country’s role in exploring new reserves, hence increasing Brazil’s share of global oil profits, which will increase the country’s wealth and power. Perhaps he’ll be able to keep a lower profile at this Group of 20 summit, and avoid the kind of headlines he made on the eve of the last gathering, when he blamed the global financial meltdown on “the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes.”

AP Photo Nicolas Sarkozy

Though he still hasn’t been able to cross the 50 percent threshhold, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is slowly climbing in his country’s polls, scoring a 45 percent approval rating in a recent sounding. Though the former interior minister, who won France’s 2007 election with 53 percent of the country’s vote, faced controversy in the early stages of his presidency, he’s won over some detractors by moving away from his model wife and toward the environmental and economic reform he hopes to encourage at the G-20 session. Last month, for example, Sarkozy announced his plans to impose new rules on bonus payments for bank traders, saying, “I was scandalized to see the lessons of the crisis being forgotten so quickly by some people at a time when the page has not even been turned on the crisis.”

AP Photo Angela Merkel

Germany's Angela Merkel has topped Forbes’ list as the world’s most powerful woman for the past three years.  The impenetrable Merkel, Germany’s first female chancellor, has long advocated for free-market reform and supports a strong relationship with the United States, as evidenced by her massage from former President George W. Bush at the 2006 G-8 summit. Merkel has overhauled both Germany’s corporate tax policies and health-care system, a surefire way to gain favorability with the people in a steady-as-she-she-goes approach. And it’s worked thus far—Merkel’s approval rating has skyrocketed to 64 percent recently. With mere days before she stands for reelection on Sunday, she’s said she’ll “fight for every vote.”

Kirsty Wigglesworth / Getty Images Felipe Calderón

In spite of a one-point drop in the polls between May and August 2009, Mexico’s conservative president is the most popular leader on our list, with a 69 percent approval rating. Which comes as something of a surprise, given that the headlines out of Mexico these days aren’t exactly triumphant. A lawyer, former energy secretary, active Catholic, and early leader in the National Action Party, the Harvard-educated Calderón is vocal in fighting drug trafficking and crime, while remaining popular in the business community. His vision for moving Mexico forward includes privatization, liberalization, and political freedom.