A new global survey of world leaders released by Harvard University has rated Chinese President Xi Jinping as the top-performing world leader.

On a scale of one to 10, survey respondents ranked Xi first among 10 world leaders with a score of 7.5, followed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 7.3, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 7.2.

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The poll of more than 26,000 people from 30 countries, conducted by Tokyo-based market research firm GMO Research, asked respondents to evaluate the job performance of 10 of the most widely recognized global leaders.

The world leaders the survey rated included Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President François Hollande, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, South African president Jacob Zuma, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On the opposite end of the list from China, the worldwide survey ranked Russia's Putin as the world's worst performing leader with a paltry 6.0. Japan's Abe was barely better, coming in second to last with a 6.1 rating, which was just behind Hollande of France with a 6.3.

Obama and Cameron were rated at the middle of the pack with a 6.6 and 6.5 rating respective.

Anthony Saich, who serves as faculty chair of Harvard Kennedy School's China program, told the Harvard Gazette that data about how Chinese citizens viewed other world leaders was groundbreaking. He plans to meet with the polling firm in Beijing to discuss potential collaborations that could improve public understanding of contemporary political dynamics.

"For me, what would be interesting to do is look at the data from China," said Saich. Is there anything we can draw from this that tells us what is the Chinese citizens' world view [about] particular countries they like? Particular leaders they like? Does that map onto particular political styles? In terms of international relations, what does that mean for potential healing of wounds between Japan or a better relationship with the U.S.?"

A key finding of the survey showed that the way the outside world views certain leaders can vary greatly from how those leaders are view by their own citizens. In countries dominated by a single party or dictatorship - where public debate is constrained - citizens gave their own governments far higher ratings than did respondents in nations with a multiparty system and a free press.

For example, while Putin was ranked 10th out of 10 leaders by those polled abroad, he came in second among his own people with a very generous 8.7 rating, behind China's Xi's 9.0 rating.  While Xi ranked first by both those polled from abroad and from within China, there was still a significant discrepancy between how he is viewed at home (9.0 rating) versus overseas (7.5 rating).

The survey also found that those polled from developing countries were overwhelmingly more positive about their nation's future than those from developed nations.

Respondents in India (87.8 percent), Russia (79.6 percent), and China (78.6 percent) said that their home country was moving in the right direction. Contrarily, only a minority in the U.S. (44.8 percent), Japan (30.4 percent), and South Africa (29.3 percent) said their home country was making progress.

Saich said the survey results that most surprised him were the popularity of Modi and Merkel. "I just put that down to the fact that he'd only just been elected and so I suspect that a lot of people didn't really know very much about him," said Saich of Modi.

He added "I thought what was interesting, though, was how well Merkel came out across the board. From the surveys, she really emerges as a leader of international respect."

The poll results also show the kinds of information about outside nations that filter down to the average citizen.  "You can begin to ask questions about how both geopolitics and about how national presses begin to report activities and behavior of other countries, and how that reflects onto particular leaders."

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