Global view of US worsens under Trump, Pew says

By Ben Westcott

June 27, 2017

The world has little confidence in US President Donald Trump compared to his predecessor Barack Obama, according to a new report by Pew Research.

Surveys of residents in 37 nations across the world released on Tuesday found that since Trump took office in January, the US's image overseas has sharply declined and views of the new US leader in general are largely negative.

Pew Research first began polling international attitudes on the US in 2002. In total, 40,447 were surveyed from February 16 to May 8 via telephone or face-to-face interviews, depending on the country, and the margin of error is between 3 to 5%.

When each country was asked which leader they had confidence in to "do the right thing regarding world affairs," only Israel and Russia had more confidence in Trump than former US President Barack Obama.

In comparison, less than 30% of respondents in Germany, Canada, UK, Australia and Japan said they trusted Trump, compared to at least 75% in each country who said they had faith in Obama.

In Mexico, a longtime antagonist of the new US President, just 5% of those surveyed said they trusted Trump as a world leader.

Overall, confidence in the US has dropped since the Trump presidency began in January 2017, falling from 64% on average under Obama to just 49% in recent months.

"Some of the steepest declines in US image are found among long-standing allies," the report said.

When Trump was compared to other prominent world leaders, the 37 nations surveyed said they had more confidence in German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Just 22% of respondents said they had confidence in Trump, compared to 42% for Merkel and 28% for Xi.

The overall response was poor even compared to the low numbers under former President George W. Bush, whose final confidence numbers in Mexico, Canada and Germany were all higher than Trump's first ratings.

It wasn't all bad news for the US however -- a majority of respondents said they still had positive views of Americans in general, as well as US films and music.

"(Additionally) despite the doubts sown several years ago by revelations of American spying on foreign leaders and citizens, across the 37 countries polled this spring a median of 54% believe the US government respects the personal freedom of its people," the report said.