Despite being a polarizing figure in his own country, US President Donald Trump has drawn negative reviews from the public across the globe. In a survey by Pew Research Center across 33 countries gathering the opinion of 37,000 people between May to October last year. 64% of people say they believe that Trump cannot do the right things in world affairs. Only 29% showing faith in the leadership of the American president. The lack of confidence is partly due to the opposition of the president’s foreign policy. Interestingly, the views are of the time before the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone attack a few days back.
The main contributors to Trump’s unpopularity across the globe are his policies of climate, tariffs, immigration, and Iran. He garnered maximum support for the negotiations. It is with North Korea’s Kim Jong- Un that received 41% median approval across the countries that took part in the survey.
Western Europe is rife with anti-Trump sentiments as 3 in 4 people. It is across Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain lacks confidence in Trump. Reviews of Trump in Mexico show the dismal result as 89% of people say that they do not have confidence in him.
Trump is lower than Obama
Despite the variations in ratings across different countries, the trend is clear that Trump’s ratings are lower than his predecessor Barrack Obama. Earlier in 2017, PEW had reported that soon after Trump’s inauguration, the international confidence on the president declined sharply. It is accompanied by a similar decline in the rating of the United States. Since 2018, the ratings for President Trump receive an uptick in some countries, the degree of change from modest to solidly positive. In many nations, the support for Trump has improved somewhat on the ideological right. Some of the changes could have happened due to the modifications in the manner of administering the survey in 2019.
The world favours the USA
In contrast to how the world views Trump, the world is mostly in favour of the US. Despite the decline in the popularity of the US after Donald Trump assumed office as compared to the Obama era. There have been some increases in the favourable views about the US in 2018. The increase is partly due to Trump finding favours in some nations with supporters of right-wing populist groups. Israel has the highest ratings for the US, with 83% of those surveyed viewing the country in a favourable light.
Trump vs. other global leaders
So, how does Trump fare against the other leaders of the world, namely Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, Xi Jinping, and Macron? The result shows that none of the five leaders received high marks, but Germany’s Angela Merkel tops the list. Despite Xi Ping and Putin receiving negative ratings, the highest negative ratings went to president Trump.
According to the report, although Trump is more popular among the political right people, even for this group, his popularity barely crosses 50% in only 6 countries. The verdict is clear that the world lacks confidence that Trump will make the right choices.