Overseas image of US rebounds under Biden

WASHINGTON: America’s image abroad has rebounded under President Joe Biden, with 62% of those polled in 12 countries in 2020 and 2021 by Pew Research Center saying they have a favourable view of the country compared to 34% in the last year of former president Donald Trump.

Biden is better regarded and more popular than Trump in those same 12 nations, according to the poll released on Thursday. A median of 75% of the respondents said they have confidence that Biden will do the right thing in world affairs, compared to 17% who could say the same for his predecessor in 2020.

In each of the 16 sets of people surveyed - the research used data from 12 countries for comparisons where polls were done in 2020 and 2021 - more than 6-in-10 said they had confidence in Biden to do the right thing in world affairs.

Respondents in the 12 countries also found Biden, who is currently touring Europe, “well qualified” than Trump by a wide margin of 77% to 16% and a “stronger leader” by 62% to 46%.

This should trouble Trump, who liked to portray himself as a strong leader when he was president. Trump scores over Biden on less flattering attributes though - he is considered “dangerous” 72% to 14% and “arrogant” 90% to 13%.

Pew found that a high level of confidence in Biden was tied to the popularity of his policies 89% of those polled in 16 countries approved of his decision to rejoin the World Health Organization; 85% supported his decision to take the US back to the Paris Accord to combat the climate crisis; his proposal to organise a conference of democracies was backed by 85% of the respondents; and 76% backed his announcement to take in more refugees.

Despite these large gains and improvements over Trump, Biden trailed German Chancellor Angela Merkel 75% to 77%. Merkel is the only world leader to beat Biden in the survey. All others are way behind. It was 63% for France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to handle world affairs had the confidence of only 23% of respondents, and China’s President Xi Jinping of only 20%.

A total of 67% of the respondents said they believed America is a “very” or “somewhat” reliable partner.