Mohammed bin Salman less trusted than his father, King Salman
Compared with perceptions of current King Salman in 2017, the crown prince is seen as less trustworthy in his approach to foreign affairs. In 2017, Pew Research Center asked adults in four Middle Eastern and North African countries if they had confidence in King Salman, and in all four, evaluations of the king were significantly more positive than the opinions of his son, the prince, given in 2019. Among Turks and Israelis, Crown Prince Mohammed is about as trusted as his uncle, the late King Abdullah, was in 2011, while in Lebanon, King Abdullah was considerably more popular than both his nephew and half-brother, King Salman.
Between 2017 and 2019, events occurred that may have dampened support for Saudi leaders. Not least was the assassination of Khashoggi in Istanbul, which added to already fraught relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The killing also drew broad international backlash, including protests against the crown prince’s state visit to Tunisia in 2018, where confidence in Saudi leadership fell by 14 percentage points. The decline in Lebanon may be tied to the alleged kidnapping of now former Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, in Saudi Arabia during a state visit in late 2017.
Mohammed bin Salman less trusted than his father,  | King Salman  | % in each country who have confidence in  | to do the right thing regarding  | world affairs  | 50%  | 44  | 31 32  | 23  | 23 Lebanon  | 18 Tunisia  | 14  | 14 Turkey  | 13  | Israel  | 0  | 2011  | 2019  | 2017  | Salman  | MBS  | Abdullah  | Source: Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey. Q38j.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 