re: In a 35 country survey, Obama is more admired than Trump in every country except Russia

Let me make this simple.
Pretend that instead of nations, we’re talking about sec football teams, and instead of the nations leaders we’re talking about head coaches. If a team is bad in football, other team’s fan bases generally do not have a negative view of that particular team’s head coach because the team poses no threat to challenge any other team in any way. Thus the status quo will never change. However, if a team is good in football, other team’s fan bases generally will have a negative view of that particular team’s head coach because that team does pose a threat to challenge every other team. Thus there is now a legitimate threat to the status quo.
No one outside of Alabama likes Saban, and that should help explain what I just laid out.