Plummeting views of U.S. under Trump

A new global survey suggests the world’s impression of the United States is plummeting under President Donald Trump, with Canada registering the largest such decline of any country within the Western Hemisphere.

The Gallup polling company registered the worst annual score for the U.S. since it began doing annual global leadership surveys in 2007 — with approval of U.S. leadership down nearly 20 points in one year, now languishing at 30 per cent worldwide.

“More people now disapprove of U.S. leadership than approve,” said Jon Clifton of Gallup. “This historic low puts the U.S.’s leadership approval rating on par with China’s and sets a new bar for disapproval.”

Germany has replaced the U.S. as the top-rated global power in the world, at 41 per cent according to Gallup. The U.S. is now just behind China at 31 per cent, and just ahead of Russia at 27 per cent.

The survey found wall-to-wall declines throughout the Americas — with the biggest shift in the next-door neighbour to the north.

The number of Canadian respondents who said they approved of the job performance of the U.S. leadership dropped 40 per cent in one year, followed by slightly less dramatic dips in Panama and Costa Rica, with the other U.S. NAFTA neighbour, Mexico, showing a decline of 28 per cent.

In Canada, 20 per cent of respondents said they approved of the job performance of U.S. leadership; 76 per cent said they disapproved.

Those numbers were backed up by another new poll Thursday. Angus Reid said a mere 13 per cent of Canadians surveyed had a positive impression of the Trump presidency, versus 70 per cent who saw it negatively, with the numbers declining from earlier surveys. Trump received the highest approval in Alberta, where 29 per cent viewed him positively and 16 per cent had mixed feelings.