US image declines as world shows low confidence in Trump's leadership

World
Europe

The US' image around the globe has plunged, with many people outside the country expressing scant confidence in President Donald Trump’s ability to manage international affairs, according to a survey released on Monday.

The international survey spanning 37 nations by the Pew Research Center showed only 24 percent of those interviewed in the rest of the world expressed confidence in Trump's leadership, while favorable ratings of his predecessor Barack Obama were 64 percent.

The US image has suffered as a result, with the country's favorable ratings down to 49 percent, from 64 percent at the end of Obama's eight years' presidency.

Pew Research Center graphic

"Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the US have declined steeply in many nations,” said the report.

The sharp decline in how much the rest of the world trusts the US president on the world stage is especially pronounced among some of America’s closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighboring Mexico and Canada.

Mexico shows the lowest confidence in Trump with five percent, and Spain at seven percent. In Canada, confidence in the president decreased from 83 percent to 22 percent, the lowest it has been in the 15 years that the survey has been conducted.

The only two countries where ratings were higher compared with Obama were Russia, where confidence in Trump climbed to 53 percent from 11 percent, and Israel, where the percentage rose to 63 from 56.

According to the poll, 75 percent of interviewees described Trump as "arrogant", 65 percent as "intolerant" and 62 percent as "dangerous", while a majority of 55 percent described him as a "strong leader".

Pew Research Center graphic‍

The survey of 40,447 people conducted from February 16 to May 8, also covered people's attitudes towards some of Trump's policies, with 76 percent dissatisfied with his plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico, 72 percent against his withdrawal from major trade agreements and 62 percent opposed to his plans to restrict travel to the US from some Muslin-majority countries.