US image abroad has rebounded, says poll
WASHINGTON, June 10, (AP): The United States’ image around the world has improved sharply since President Joe Biden took office, according to new surveys conducted in 16 countries, including many long-standing allies of the US
The Pew Research Center surveys show majorities of the citizens across the countries — more than 6 in 10 in each — express confidence in Biden to “do the right thing” in world affairs.
Biden arrived in Britain on Wednesday on the first leg of his first overseas trip, hoping to reestablish the United States’ global standing and reinforce partnerships with key European allies.
Favorable ratings of the US have started to rebound after declining considerably during Donald Trump’s four years as president, growing as much as 30 percentage points since last year in partner nations like France and Germany. In 2020, positive views of the US reached or neared low points in these two countries, as well as the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.
In France, for example, 65% now have a favorable view of the US, up from 31% last year. No more than half in France rated the US positively during Trump’s presidency, but at least 6 in 10 had during each of Barack Obama’s eight years as president.
And 74% of the public in France say they have confidence in Biden, a Democrat, to do the right thing regarding world affairs, compared with just 11% saying that for Trump, a Republican, last year. Across 12 countries surveyed in both 2020 and 2021, the gap in confidence in the two presidents is at least 40 percentage points — in Biden’s favor in all 12.
Biden seeks to reaffirm to allies his commitment to the US role abroad, which stands in contrast to Trump’s “America First” approach. Biden will initially meet with Group of Seven leaders before continuing on to Brussels for a NATO summit, a meeting with heads of the European Union and several faceto-face meetings with other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
Rosier
Even as the US global standing is rosier among the citizens of these nations around the world, Biden faces challenges as he looks to transition the US out of the Trump era. The surveys find many nations skeptical of the US, both as a global partner and as a functioning democracy.
No more than 2 in 10 across the 16 countries say the US is a “very” reliable partner, with majorities in most calling the US “somewhat” reliable. In Canada, France, Spain and Greece, roughly a third say the US is not reliable as a global partner.
Germany is the only nation surveyed where a majority say relations with the US will improve in the next few years. Across most other countries, more think the relationship will stay the same rather than get better.
The state of US democracy also earns mixed reviews around the world. In Canada, for example, 6 in 10 say the political system in the US does not work well, as do about two-thirds of Australians and New Zealanders. About 4 in 10 in France and Spain say the US democracy is working poorly, compared with slim majorities who say it does work at least somewhat well. In Germany and the U.K., people are closely divided. And majorities across most of the 16 countries say the US democracy “used to be a good example, but has not been in recent years.”
Meanwhile, on social media and in political speeches, some Republicans and pro-police groups say last year’s calls to slash spending on law enforcement have led to a dramatic rise in killings in cities overseen by Democrats. The increases they cite are real, and several big cities did make cuts to police spending. But the reductions were mostly modest, and the same big increases in homicides are being seen nationwide — even in cities that increased police spending. At the same time, the rates for burglaries, drug offenses and many other types of crime are down in many cities across the country.
The effort to blame Democrats for crime may offer a preview of Republicans’ strategy for upcoming elections: a new twist on an old “law and order” argument from the party’s past, harkening back to President Richard Nixon.
Just as it did half a century ago, the argument ignores the complicated reasons for fluctuations in crime rates — a list that today includes the upheaval wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and protests that erupted after the killing of George Floyd by police. “2020 was just a crazy complicated year where lots of things happened, and there are lots of potential explanations for why we saw these big changes,” said David Abrams, a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor, who tracks crime rates and is studying the impact of the pandemic. The bottom line? “It’s complicated.”
Showing
Late last month, the National Fraternal Order of Police posted a graphic on social media showing big increases in the homicide rate in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon — all cities currently led by Democrats. “The leadership in all of these cities turned the keys over to the ‘Defund the Police’ mob,” the post read.
The numbers in it were alarming: Homicides in Chicago, up by 22% through late May compared with the same period last year. In Minneapolis, homicides were up by 56%; in Portland, 800%.
Top Republicans have taken up the claim, too.
“Look at what’s happening where they’re defunding the police,” former President Donald Trump said Saturday at the North Carolina GOP convention, echoing an argument he made on the campaign trail last year. “The crime rate is going up by 50, 60, 100%, 131% in one city.” Killings have been on the rise since 2020, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story about reductions in police spending or a troubling increase in homicides being seen throughout the country.
Meanwhile, ‘SKYROCKETING MURDER RATES,’ claimed the National Fraternal Order of Police. “An explosion of violent crime,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Democrat-run cities across the country who cut funding for police have seen increases in crime,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C, other types of crime are down, according to preliminary statistics and researchers who say crime initially dropped around the world after the pandemic began. While cities are reporting jumps in their homicide rate, there’s been no similar increase in other crimes, like burglaries, robberies or drug offenses.
That’s not what you’d expect if calls to defund the police were leading to a rash of crime, Abrams said.
“Any theory explaining the rise in homicides would also have to explain why we haven’t seen a spike in other kinds of crimes,” he said. So why are killings up? Economic losses and personal stress brought on by the pandemic are one suggestion. COVID-19 also disrupted in-person education and many community programs designed to quell violence.
It put a strain on police departments, hospitals, courts and other institutions tasked with dealing with the impact of crime.
Other possibilities include rising gun ownership and the protests over police killings that could have emboldened criminals. Then there are the host of factors that contribute to localized violence, including gangs, drugs and poverty.
James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Boston’s Northeastern University, said small changes to a police budget, or the party affiliation of a particular mayor, aren’t likely to play a big role. Some violence fluctuations are part of longstanding problems. “It’s not related to which party is ruling,” Fox said. “But you can win a lot of votes by pushing fear.”
Nixon used a similar argument in his successful 1968 presidential campaign, arguing that protests over civil rights “have torn 300 cities apart.” The strategy helped galvanize support among white voters concerned about racial integration, according to Elizabeth Hinton, a Yale Law School professor who studies the history of criminalization in America.