America’s international image improves after Trump: Polls

President Joe Biden has transformed the world’s image of the US with a dramatic return of confidence among the country’s closest allies compared with the Trump era, polling suggests.

Among 12 key allies in Europe and Asia, faith in the US president to ‘‘do the right thing’’ in world affairs was up from 17 per cent last year to 75 per cent, and a ‘‘favourable view’’ of the US had risen from 34 per cent to 62 per cent.

Biden declared that ‘‘the United States is back’’ when he landed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk on Thursday. His own presidential qualities were rated significantly higher than Donald Trump’s, the survey by Pew Research found, with 77 per cent calling him ‘‘wellqualified’’ compared with 16 per cent for Trump, and 14 per cent regarding him as ‘‘dangerous’’ against 77 per cent for Trump.

‘‘The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image,’’ the researchers said. ‘‘Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, publics around the world held the United States in low regard, with most opposed to his foreign policies. This was especially true among key American allies and partners.’’

Pew said that attitudes towards the US varied considerably across the nations surveyed. Only about 50 per cent in Singapore and Australia had a favourable opinion of the US and only 42 per cent of New Zealanders. While 61 per cent regarded the US favourably in Taiwan, this was down from 68 per cent in a 2019 poll. In the UK the favourable view of the US was up from 41 per cent last year to 64 per cent.

Pew added: ‘‘Biden’s high ratings are tied in part to positive assessments of his personal characteristics, and here again the contrast with Trump is stark.’’

Only 13 per cent thought Biden ‘‘arrogant’’ compared with 90 per cent for Trump. The narrowest gap between them was in the category of ‘‘strong leader’’, with 46 per cent saying this was true of Trump and 62 per cent for Biden.

In his first speech as president on British soil, Biden said: ‘‘We’re going to make it clear that the

United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future; that we’re committed to leading with strength, defending our values and delivering for our people.’’ Pew said that ‘‘high levels of confidence in Biden were also tied to favourable views of his policies, several of which have emphasised multilateralism and reversed Trump administration decisions’’.

Rejoining the World Health Organisation was supported by 89 per cent and rejoining the Paris climate agreement by 85 per cent. There was slightly less support (76 per cent) for Biden’s plan to allow more refugees into the US.

Although Biden’s more multilateral approach to foreign policy was welcomed, there remained a widespread perception that the US mainly looked after its own interests in world affairs, Pew said.

More than half in most of the nations surveyed said the US did not take their interests into account when it made foreign policy decisions, including the UK, where only 39 per cent felt that the US did take its interests into account.

Pew said: ‘‘Doubts about the US considering the interests of other countries predate the Trump administration, and this has been the prevailing view – even among close US allies – since the centre began asking the question in 2002.’’

While 32 per cent described the US as an ‘‘unreliable partner’’ the remainder did not express resounding confidence, with 56 per cent calling it ‘‘somewhat reliable’’ and only 11 per cent describing America as ‘‘very reliable’’.

Half of those surveyed around the world said that the US political system was functioning well. Few – 17 per cent – believed that US democracy was a good model for other nations, whereas 57 per cent said it used to be a good example but had not been in recent years. Another 23 per cent did not believe it had ever been a good example.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, received slightly higher ratings than Biden: 77 per cent expressed confidence in her international leadership, while 63 per cent voiced confidence in President Emmanuel Macron of France. Relatively few trusted President Vladimir Putin of Russia to do the right thing in world affairs (20 per cent). The lowest rating (18 per cent) was given to President Xi Jinping of China.

The surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Pew interviewed 1000 members of the public for each of the 16 countries.

‘‘The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image.’’ Pew Research