Opinion of US has worsened in countries around world in last year, survey shows
Barely one-third of people polled across 24 countries say they have confidence in Donald Trump as a world leader, with most describing the US president as 'arrogant' and 'dangerous', and relatively few as 'honest'.
The survey of more than 28,000 people by the Pew Research Center also found that opinions of the US had worsened over the past year in more than half the countries polled – including falls of 20-plus points in Mexico, Sweden, Poland and Canada. In the UK, the figure had dropped from 54% to 50%.
Asked how much confidence they had in Trump to 'do the right thing in world affairs', just 34% of respondents across the two dozen countries expressed some degree of confidence in him, with 62% saying they had little or no confidence.
Only in five countries did a majority say they had 'some' or 'a lot' of confidence in Trump to do the right thing: Nigeria (79%), Kenya (74%), Israel (69%), Hungary (53%) and India (52%). In the other 19, opinions of the US president, who returned to the White House in January, were negative.
In Mexico, 91% said they had 'not too much' or 'no confidence at all' in Trump, followed by Sweden (85%), Germany (81%), Spain (80%) and Turkey (80%). There, and in Australia, Canada, France and the Netherlands, 'none at all' was the majority view. In the UK, 47% said they had no confidence at all and another 15% not too much.
Clear majorities across all countries also expressed little or no confidence in Trump's ability to handle specific issues: US immigration, the Russia-Ukraine war, US-China relations, the global economy, the Middle East and climate change.
Across all issues, confidence was again particularly low in neighbouring Mexico (14%) and Canada (26%), but also in Turkey (16%), Australia (23%) and many EU member states including France (25%), Germany (25%), Spain (22%) and Sweden (22%). The figure for the UK was 34%.
Across all countries, respondents were least confident about Trump's handling of the climate crisis (21%). US immigration policies were the area where they saw him doing best – though even there, only 36% expressed confidence.
In nine of the 11 Nato members polled, six in 10 or more people did not trust Trump's handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, while similar shares in Japan and South Korea (and 77% in Australia) felt the same about Trump and US-China relations.
Asked which personal characteristics described Trump, the most common choice (80%) was 'arrogant'. About two-thirds picked 'dangerous' and about 40% chose 'understands complex problems', 'diplomatic' and 'well-qualified to be president'.
About two-thirds across all countries also said the word 'honest' did not describe Trump. But the same proportion said he was a 'strong leader', a share that has increased in countries where he is relatively popular, and in those where he is not.
The survey, carried out between 8 January and 26 April, also found strong ideological and partisan divides in views of Trump, with right-leaning voters tending to view him much more favourably than those on the left – and also more than in his first term.
In Israel, 93% of people who considered themselves right-leaning expressed confidence in Trump, against 21% of those on the left. Supporters of far-right and rightwing populist parties in Europe also tended to be markedly more positive in their verdict.
In Hungary, 88% of those with a favourable view of the ruling Fidesz party had confidence in Trump, against 27% among those who viewed the party negatively. In Germany, 56% of AfD supporters approved of Trump, compared with just 8% of those who opposed the far-right party.
The same was true in Poland of Law & Justice voters and in the UK of Reform voters (both 62%), but confidence in Trump was far lower among PVV voters in the Netherlands (43%), National Rally voters in France (39%) and Sweden Democrats voters (31%).
The survey also found that confidence in Trump was significantly higher among men than among women in 17 of the 24 countries polled, ranging from a 19-point gap in Sweden (5% for women versus 24% for men) through 17 points in the UK (28% versus 45%), 12 points in France (16% versus 28%) to eight in Spain (15% versus 23%).
Overall ratings of the US had declined in 15 countries since last spring, the survey found, and were broadly unchanged in six others. Only in Israel, Nigeria and Turkey were respondents more likely to give the US a more favourable rating than last year.
Across the 24 countries, 49% of respondents had a favourable overall view of the US and an identical share had an unfavourable view. About 50% median said American democracy was working well, but 46% said it was working poorly.
The study polled people in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom
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