US image slumps under Trump; leadership questioned

BERLIN: The image of the United States has deteriorated sharply across the globe under President Donald Trump and an overwhelming majority of people in other countries have no confidence in his ability to lead, a survey from the Pew Research Centre showed.

Five months into Trump’s presidency, the survey spanning 37 nations showed US favourability ratings in the rest of the world slumping to 49% from 64% at the end of Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House.

But the falls were far steeper in some of America’s closest allies, including Mexico and Canada, and European partners like Germany and Spain.

Just 30% of Mexicans now say they have a favourable view of the United States, down from 66% at the end of the Obama era. In Canada and Germany, favourability ratings slid by 22 points, to 43% and 35%, respectively.

In many European countries, the ratings were comparable to those seen at the end of the presidency of George W. Bush, whose 2003 invasion of Iraq was deeply unpopular.

The survey, based on the responses of 40,447 people and conducted between February 16 and May 8 this year, showed even deeper mistrust of Trump himself, with only 22% of those surveyed saying they had confidence he would do the right thing in world affairs, compared to 64% who trusted Obama.

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with confidence ratings of 27% and 28% respectively, scored higher than Trump. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with a confidence rating of 42%, scored highest among the four leaders in the survey.

The countries with the lowest confidence in Trump were Mexico, at 5% and Spain at 7%. The only two countries where ratings improved compared to Obama were Russia, where confidence in the US president surged to 53% from 11%, and Israel, where it rose 7 points to 56%.

Globally, 75% of respondents described Trump as ‘‘arrogant’’, 65% as ‘‘intolerant’’ and 62% as ‘‘dangerous’’. A majority of 55% also described him as a ‘‘strong leader’’.

On the positive side, the survey showed 58% of respondents had a positive view of Americans in general. And in many regions of the world, a majority or plurality of respondents said they expected relations with the United States to stay roughly the same despite Trump. — Reuters