Pew Research just published U.S. Image Plummets Internationally as Most Say Country Has Handled Coronavirus Badly.
The share of Europeans who have a favourable view of the USA (politically I presume) is at its lowest at least for the last 20 years, but some might say ever, as Europeans used to be far more pro-American throughout the 20th century. As far as I can recollect negative feelings towards the US only really started under the G.W. Bush administration because of the terrible image Bush and his neoconservative acolytes (Rumsfeld and Cheney in particular) gave of the country. Public opinion improved considerably under Barrack Obama, but plummeted again since Trump was elected. Even Japan, Canada and Australia, which had remained staunchly pro-American during the Bush administration, have now become US-skeptic.
But Trump does not seem to be the sole reason why people around the world have lost confidence in America. In fact, confidence in Trump ranges from 9% to 25% among developed countries, but the image of the US as a whole is always much better. South Koreans are still generally pro-American despite strongly disliking Trump.
Interestingly, even fewer people approve of the way the Covid crisis was handled nationwide in the US than they approve Trump as a president. South Koreans are the most critical of all, with a mere 6% saying that Americans did a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
So neither Trump's image nor the way Americans handled the Covid crisis really explain why people around the world have a dimmer view of the US than ever before. There are surely other factors too. One of them may be the declining democracy and freedom in the US. In just five years from 2013 ro 2018, between 20% and 30% of European and Japanese people reckoned that the personal freedoms of Americans were not respected any more. The decline already started under Obama and did not accelerate under Trump. The Germans and French even acknowledged a small regain of freedom under Trump for a while.
There is obviously some difference in the perception of the US between the Left, Center and the Right in each country, but not that much. In the Netherlands there is only 5% of difference of opinion between the political extremes.
So close to the US elections, Americans should wonder if they really want to re-elect a leader who is internationally less trusted than Putin!
Here is the breakdown of opinions by country. Only the Japanese have a slightly better opinion of Trump (25%) than Putin (23%). All other countries, including very pro-American South Korea, see Trump as worse than Putin.
The share of Europeans who have a favourable view of the USA (politically I presume) is at its lowest at least for the last 20 years, but some might say ever, as Europeans used to be far more pro-American throughout the 20th century. As far as I can recollect negative feelings towards the US only really started under the G.W. Bush administration because of the terrible image Bush and his neoconservative acolytes (Rumsfeld and Cheney in particular) gave of the country. Public opinion improved considerably under Barrack Obama, but plummeted again since Trump was elected. Even Japan, Canada and Australia, which had remained staunchly pro-American during the Bush administration, have now become US-skeptic.
But Trump does not seem to be the sole reason why people around the world have lost confidence in America. In fact, confidence in Trump ranges from 9% to 25% among developed countries, but the image of the US as a whole is always much better. South Koreans are still generally pro-American despite strongly disliking Trump.
Interestingly, even fewer people approve of the way the Covid crisis was handled nationwide in the US than they approve Trump as a president. South Koreans are the most critical of all, with a mere 6% saying that Americans did a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
So neither Trump's image nor the way Americans handled the Covid crisis really explain why people around the world have a dimmer view of the US than ever before. There are surely other factors too. One of them may be the declining democracy and freedom in the US. In just five years from 2013 ro 2018, between 20% and 30% of European and Japanese people reckoned that the personal freedoms of Americans were not respected any more. The decline already started under Obama and did not accelerate under Trump. The Germans and French even acknowledged a small regain of freedom under Trump for a while.
There is obviously some difference in the perception of the US between the Left, Center and the Right in each country, but not that much. In the Netherlands there is only 5% of difference of opinion between the political extremes.
So close to the US elections, Americans should wonder if they really want to re-elect a leader who is internationally less trusted than Putin!
Here is the breakdown of opinions by country. Only the Japanese have a slightly better opinion of Trump (25%) than Putin (23%). All other countries, including very pro-American South Korea, see Trump as worse than Putin.