CGTN Poll: White House in shutdown, U.S. at a standstill

The U.S. federal government has once again entered a shutdown. A CGTN survey conducted among 7671 respondents across 38 countries shows widespread disappointment over the institutional "deep-seated problems" exposed by the political stalemate and governance dysfunction in the United States. Many respondents believe "American democracy" is drifting further away from the original intent of democracy, and the U.S. is no longer the "beacon" it once claimed to be .

This is the first U.S. federal government shutdown in nearly seven years, the last occurring during Trump’s first term. The survey finds that 71.5 percent of respondents believe partisan strife has severely intensified social divisions. Meanwhile, 74.4 percent say such conflicts reveal irreconcilable contradictions and fundamental flaws within the U.S. political system, and 73.2 percent assert the urgent need for systemic reform in U.S. political institutions. 

Respondents from Europe, Oceania and North America express particularly negative views about the impact of partisan conflicts. Some 75.1 percent of Europeans and 84.3 percent of North Americans agree that partisan strife has severely intensified social divisions in America – both figures exceeding the global average. 

In addition, 78.4 percent Europeans, 85.3 percent North Americans, and 77.4 percent of Oceanians say partisan struggles expose irreconcilable contradictions and fundamental flaws in the U.S. political system.

Overall, the survey shows partisan conflicts has severely hampered U.S. political development. Respondents gave low ratings regarding to the effectiveness of U.S. governance and the level of its political development. Only 41.4 percent of respondents from Oceania and 56.5 percent from Europe expressed approval of the U.S. government's governance capabilities. In assessing the U.S. government's ability to improve living standards, merely 34.3 percent of respondents from Oceania and 39.1 percent from Europe indicated approval. 

Approval ratings were even lower when evaluating the U.S. government's performance in preventing corruption, with just 21.8 percent of respondents in Oceania and 27.2 percent in Europe expressing confidence. On public safety, only 28.8 percent of respondents from Oceania and 39.1 percent from Europe gave approval.

The survey was jointly conducted by CGTN and Renmin University of China through the Institute of New Era International Communication, involving 7671 respondents from 38 countries worldwide in the form of an online sample library survey. The surveyed countries include major developed nations and the Global South. The respondents were aged 18 to 65, and the sample aligns with the age and gender distribution of the population censuses in various countries.