America’s image as a global superpower has deteriorated since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to the impartial Pew Research Center.
A survey of 13 nations from the US think tank showed that only 41% of respondents in the UK have a favorable opinion of the United States, the lowest percentage of any comparable survey conducted by Pew in the country.
Only 31% of the population of France views the United States positively and reflects the survey results from March 2003, when tensions between the two countries peaked during the Iraq war, the survey found.
The survey also showed that much of the damage to America’s international reputation among key allies and partners is linked to its handling of the coronavirus crisis. Only 15% of the participating countries gave the United States good marks for dealing with the pandemic.
Most countries said that the World Health Organization and the European Union have done an admirable job containing the pandemic. Almost all countries except the United States and the United Kingdom gave their countries positive ratings for dealing with the outbreak.
While few of the countries believe that China has effectively dealt with the outbreak, it still received significantly better reviews than the US response.
Trump’s results on the world stage have been low since he took office, the survey says. Belgium gave him its most negative rating, with only 9% expressing confidence that Trump will do what is right when dealing with global issues. Japan gave him the highest rating, with a quarter of its respondents expressing confidence.
The global attitude towards Trump has consistently been significantly lower than the former president Barack Obama, especially in Western Europe, the survey shows.
However, Trump is perceived as more favorable among Europeans who have favorable views on “right-wing populist parties, even though confidence is still relatively low among all groups,” the survey said. Pew noted that 45% of supporters of Spain’s Vox party are convinced of Trump’s ability to deal with global issues, far above the approval rate of 7% among Spaniards who do not support Vox.
Trump is ranked last in confidence compared to the six world leaders in the survey. About 83% of respondents said they did not have “confidence” that Trump would “do the right thing in world affairs”, higher than Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “78%” confidence and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 73%.
The White House did not immediately respond to the inquiry, but Trump has said he has done a good job of dealing with the coronavirus crisis, even though the United States continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths.
At a White House news conference last month, Trump said, “When you look at the work we’re doing, compared to others, we’ve done a good job.”
Trump also suggested at the press conference that the United States has not been affected by the virus as negatively compared to other countries.
“We have done a good job, and moreover, when you look at the numbers, how we were affected less than these other countries,” Trump said.
In a recent interview with Axios, Trump said the United States has done an “amazing” and “incredible” job of dealing with the pandemic.
Pew said the survey results are based on feedback from 13,273 respondents from June 10 to August 3. The respondents were in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The United States was not included in the survey.
Source: sn.dk