Although Donald trump is at his post only a few months, the presidency has a significant impact on how the world sees the United States. Trump and the main directions of his policies are highly unpopular around the world and the USA fell sharply in many States. In accordance with a recent survey conducted in 37 countries research Pew Research Center, an average of only 22% of respondents believe that trump is acting correctly when it comes to international relations. This contrasts with the last years of the presidency of Barack Obama, when about 64% of respondents expressed trust in the predecessor Trump in regard to management of America’s role in the world.
A sharp decrease in the level of confidence of the world community to the role of the American President on the world stage particularly noticeable among some of the most closest allies of America in Europe and Asia, as well as in neighboring Mexico and Canada. Among the 37 countries where I conducted this poll, trump was higher compared with Obama’s assessment of only two countries — Russia and Israel.
The image of America as a whole also suffered to a greater extent where the credibility of the American President declined the most significantly. In the final years of the Obama presidency on average, 64% of respondents had a positive opinion about the United States. Today, only 49% of the respondents belong to America positively. Again it should be emphasized that the most significant drop in the rating of America’s image among its traditional allies.
After 2002, when the Pew Research Center conducted the first survey on America’s image abroad, positive evaluation of the United States was often associated with confidence in the President of the country. Until the spring of this year, the biggest shift in attitude toward the United States occurred at the moment when the change of administration of George Bush Jr. came Obama administration. While a positive attitude to the United States increased in Europe and in other regions, and the same can be said about the confidence how the new President was going to act in the international arena.
© AP Photo Pablo Martinez MonsivaisДональд trump at a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White house
The incident in 2017, the shift in the US and the President occurred in the opposite direction compared to what it was eight years ago. Although people all over the world, in the end, was not necessarily convinced that it will affect bilateral relations with the United States. The prevailing view among 37 surveyed countries is that the relations of their countries with the United States will remain unchanged over the next few years. However, the majority of those who actually expect change, believes that relations will worsen, not improve.
The credibility of the President depends on Trump’s reaction to his policy and his personal qualities. As to the first, some of its important policy initiatives encounter resistance around the world.
For example, his plans for the construction of the wall on the us-Mexican border do not find support at an average of 76% of the 37 surveyed countries. A negative attitude to them is particularly strong in Mexico, where nine out of ten people (94%) oppose the construction of such walls by the U.S. government.
The same rejection of trump’s intention to withdraw from trade treaties and agreements on climate change. In addition, most participating in this study, States do not approve of the attempts of the new administration to restrict the entry of citizens from certain States with a predominantly Muslim population. Trump’s intention to withdraw from the agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program is less opposition than his other policy initiatives, however, even in this question a significant number of people around the world have a negative attitude to such actions.
Personal qualities trump are also a factor of how it is perceived in the world. In the opinion of the majority of surveyed people, the new occupant of the White house is arrogant, intolerant and even dangerous man. Among the positive characteristics of the highest rating he has received as a strong leader. Fewer respondents think it is charismatic, well prepared and caring about ordinary people. Although the new us President makes people doubts and fears, the image of America as a whole receives support from a large stock of goodwill. For example, the American people continue to be treated well: all 37 countries average 58% of people have a positive attitude to the Americans. American popular culture has retained its appeal abroad, and many people in foreign countries continue to believe that Washington respects the personal freedoms of its citizens.
These are the main results of a new study of the organization Pew Research Center part 40447 respondents in 37 countries outside the United States, conducted in the period from 16 February to 8 may 2017.
A positive attitude toward the United States declining
The downgrade of favorable attitudes towards the U.S. in many countries. The proportion of people with positive attitudes toward America fell sharply in various countries in Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The rating of the favorable attitude grew only in Russia and Vietnam.
© RIA Novosti, Vladimir Astapkovich | go to fotomanipulacii flag on a street in Washington
A change of attitude to the presidents of the United States over the past decade and a half
As shown by the results of the Pew Research Center global study of the presidency of George W. Bush, many of his actions in foreign policy was unpopular, and by the time the end of his presidency, the attitude was negative in most countries covered by this study. His successor, Obama generally had more positive ratings during the entire period of their stay in the White house.
Today the rating of the President of trump is very similar to the grade which had a Bush at the end of his presidential term. This is particularly noticeable in Western Europe. In the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, the low level of trust to President Trump is very similar to low Bush’s approval rating in 2008.
Trump, Putin and XI are not popular, whereas Merkel receives the highest marks
In addition to the relations in the world to Trump, this study paid attention to three other major leaders in the international arena. According to the obtained results, trump is not the only world leader with respect to which a global audience is not experiencing a sense of trust. The President of China XI Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin also received low scores, although the attitude towards them is negative, as the current President of the United States. Considering the results in all 37 countries, on average, 28% of people trust si, and 27% are trust to Putin.
© RIA Novosti, Sergey Guneev | go to Photobacterium of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Chinese President XI Jinping at the forum of “One belt, one road”
In contrast, 42% of respondents trust long in power to the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, and only 31% of the respondents treat her with mistrust. On average, 60% of respondents in Europe trust Merkel, and its rating is particularly high among left-wing in politics, although she belongs to the center-right Christian democratic Union (CDU). Si and Merkel is not as well known in the world, trump and Putin. About one in five respondents in all countries had no views on Chinese and German leaders.
Most people have a negative attitude to the actions of trump
In the course of 2017, the survey revealed the attitude of its participants to the five main political proposals, which were supported by President trump. None of them have the support in the world.
While still a candidate, trump promised that the US will come out of agreement with Iran about nuclear weapons though he had yet to do as President. Most people around the world frowns on this idea. Only in Israel and Jordan, the majority of respondents supported the withdrawal of the United States from this agreement.
About one-third who participated in this study in all countries, support the trump proposal regarding ban on entry to USA citizens of some countries, where the majority of the population is Muslim, but in four countries — Hungary, Israel, Poland and Russia — more than half of respondents support this proposal. A negative attitude is particularly strong in several Muslim countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Senegal.
© flickr.com, Official White House Photo by Myles CullenПрезидент US Donald trump signs a decree in the oval office of the White house
The study, carried out before the official announcement of the trump on the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, evidence of a widespread negative reaction to the intention of the United States to withdraw from international agreements on climate change. On average, only 19% of respondents support the U.S. withdrawal from such agreements, which were signed in Paris, which corresponds to the low level of support of American plans for the exit of the main commercial contracts (shortly after joining the White house, trump stopped U.S. participation in the negotiations on the Transatlantic partnership). The rejection of these actions trump is particularly strong in European countries that participated in this study.
On average, only 16% of respondents support the plans of the trump on the wall between USA and Mexico. 94% of Mexicans oppose the construction of the wall, and in addition to this project negatively are people in Latin America and in most European countries. None of the 37 countries that participated in this study had a majority which would support the implementation of this project.
Most people think trump’s arrogant, intolerant, dangerous, but also a strong leader
The surveyed people were read a list of positive and negative characteristics, and for each item asked them whether it has anything to Donald Trump. People around the world associate a number of negative characteristics with the American leader. The majority of respondents believe that it is arrogant, intolerant and dangerous policies, while only a small number of people are convinced that he is well trained and cares about ordinary people. According to a widespread opinion, trump is a charismatic politician, although in General people around the world do not consider him charismatic. However, they see trump as a strong leader — an average of 55% across all countries surveyed hold this view.
A broader view of the world on America
Opinion on the American President and American foreign policy has a great impact on how people around the world perceive the United States, but other factors are also important. The country’s culture, ideas and people — this kind of elements are sometimes called “soft power” — also have an impact on the perception of America. In this study, as in previous studies conducted by the Pew Research Center notes that certain elements of American soft power have broad appeal in the world than others.
The American people is the basis of the way they perceive US in the world. In General, the attitude of the Americans was more positive than to the United States as a country. 58% of respondents have a positive opinion about Americans. This kind of attitude is especially true for Asia and Europe. However, it is less common in the middle East: Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon is the only country that participated in the study, where the majority of respondents have a negative opinion about Americans.
In addition to the American people, mainstream American culture often also receives a positive assessment. About two-thirds of participating in this study have demonstrated positive attitude toward American music, movies and television. Europeans and Asians find American mass culture is especially attractive, while such cultural exports are less popular in some countries, where the majority are Muslims.
© MarvelКомикс Marvel “The Avengers”
Despite the doubts sown several years ago as a result of revelations from us spy spying on foreign leaders and citizens in 37 countries, who this spring participated in the ongoing study, on average, 54% of respondents believe that the U.S. government respects the personal freedom of its citizens. In Europe, the reputation of America on personal freedoms have suffered because of revelations about the espionage activities of the us national security Agency (NSA). While this reputation has not been restored — now an average of 52% of the population of 10 European countries believe that Washington respects the personal freedoms, while almost as many respondents (average 44%) hold the opposite opinion. USA get higher marks on this issue in Asia and in Africa.
However, the American influence is not welcomed throughout the world. For example, many say that they like American popular culture, but, on average, 54% of respondents expressed concern about an influx of American customs and ideas in their country, believing it to be harmful.
The subject of exports, which is encouraged in all countries is democracy American-style. In General, people around the world support democratic principles, but they often mixed attitude towards the American ideas of democracy: worldwide, nearly 43% of respondents said that they like these ideas, while 46% of surveyed people had made the opposite statement. As in the case of some aspects of American soft power, democracy American-style is especially popular in African and Asian countries who participated in this study.
The prevailing view is that relations with the United States will not undergo any changes
Respondents were asked: “Now, when trump is President, the relationship of your country with US in the next few years will improve, worsen or remain about the same as it was before?”
In many countries the majority or a significant portion of people believe relations will remain about the same. However, in most regions of the world, the share of those who believe that the situation will worsen, exceeds the share of those who believed that relations will improve — and the ratio is expressed in ratio of two to one. Although relatively few people expect better relations, more than half of respondents in Russia and Israel to adhere to that point of view.
Country in focus — Russia, Israel, Germany, Mexico, Canada
Study data on positive attitude to the American President and his loyalty to Russia, Israel, Germany, Mexico and Canada allows us to talk about the different patterns discovered by the Pew Research Center in relation to opinions about the US and their leader.
© RIA Novosti, Alexander vilf | go to fotobabble USA and Russia are photographed for the Olympic games in Sochi
Russia — a positive attitude towards the U.S. is growing, and trump relatively popular
Against the background of ongoing debate and investigation of allegations of links between the electoral team of trump and Russia, the attitude of the USA in Russia has become more positive. After beginning of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, the ratings of the US as a country and President Obama, fell sharply. However, after 2015, in this period the Pew Research Center conducted there the last time his study — a positive attitude toward the US has become more and more common. And the President trump gets a more positive rating in Russia than any of his predecessors.
Israel — steady positive attitude toward the United States, however, the opinion about the American presidents changing
In the course of any research, the Israelis give US the highest rating of popularity, and this year the situation has not changed and 81% of people in this country have a positive attitude towards America. However, the valuation of American presidents ranges. In 2003, President George W. Bush received a very high rating, but in the course of his presidency, the percentage is slightly decreased. The rating of trust to President Obama ranged from 49% to 71% — these are the results of the Pew research Center during his stay in the White house. In the period from 2014 to 2015, his rating dropped significantly because of the tensions between Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a nuclear deal with Iran. Israel is one of two countries (the second country is Russia), in which the trump rating is higher than Obama’s rating in the last two years of his presidency.
© AFP 2017, Thomas Sexplanet greeting in Jerusalem before the visit of US President Donald trump in Israel
Germany — a significant shift in attitude to the American President, and the popularity of the US.
In Germany and some of its Western European neighbors — attitude toward the United States over the past 15 years corresponds to a particular template. President George W. Bush was not very popular at the beginning of his presidential term, and his popularity declined even further, and this occurred against the background of widespread disagreement with key elements of its foreign policy. This situation, in turn, negatively affected the image of America as the country as a whole. In contrast, President Obama has enjoyed significant popularity (though his rating has declined somewhat because of the scandal with wiretapping conducted by the NSA), but this coincided with the improvement of relations with USA as a country. Today, the level of trust to Trump low, and indicators of a positive attitude are where they were in the last years of the Bush administration.
Mexico and Canada — the US rating declining among the closest neighbors
America’s image was negative in the two neighboring countries.
© AFP 2017, Guillermo Agastia on the border of USA and Mexico
In the past decade, American presidents have received a mixed or negative rating in Mexico, but the credibility of Trump’s 5% is the lowest in Mexico since, as the Pew Research Center began to conduct their research. The 5% rating is also the lowest among 37 countries that participated in the study in 2017. The proposed wall on the us-Mexican border is one of its main theses from the moment he announced his intention to participate in presidential elections, and today nine out of ten Mexicans (even more) oppose this construction. The popularity of the USA in Mexico, as usual, is higher than the credibility of the American President. Nothing has changed this year, although the proportion of people with positive attitude to United States has declined substantially after 2015.
Trump significantly lower rating in Canada than its predecessor. And for the first time since the research organization Pew Research Center the share of Canadians with a positive attitude towards its neighbor to the South, fell below 50%. Only 43% of Canadians today have a positive attitude towards the United States.
