Low global confidence in Trump leads to lower ratings for U.S. Confidence in U.S. president Views of U.S. No confidence
Although he has only been in office a few months, Donald Trump’s presidency has had a major impact on how the world sees the United States. Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations. According to a new Pew Research Center survey spanning 37 nations, a median of just 22% has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama’s presidency, when a median of 64% expressed confidence in Trump’s predecessor to direct America’s role in the world.
The sharp decline in how much global publics trust the U.S. president on the world stage is especially pronounced among some of America’s closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighboring Mexico and Canada. Across the 37 nations polled, Trump gets higher marks than Obama in only two countries: Russia and Israel.
In countries where confidence in the U.S. president fell most, America’s overall image has also tended to suffer more. In the closing years of the Obama presidency, a median of 64% had a positive view of the U.S. Today, just 49% are favorably inclined toward America. Again, some of the steepest declines in U.S. image are found among long-standing allies.
Low global confidence in Trump leads to lower ratings for U.S.  | Confidence in U.S. president  | Views of U.S.  | No confidence  | 80%  | 74  | 70 64  | 60  | Favorable  | 50  | 49  | 40  | 39  | 30  | Unfavorable  | 22  | 26  | 20 23  | Confidence  | 10  | End of  | Beginning  | End of  | Beginning  | Obama  | Obama  | Beginning of Trump  | of Trump  | presidency  | presidency  | presidency  | presidency  | Note: Percentages are global medians based on 37 countries. Obama presidency medians are based on the most recently  | available data for each global country between 2014 and 2016.  | Source: Spring 2017 Global Attitudes Survey, Q12a & Q30a.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 