Poll: US reputation and trust in Donald Trump at a low point

Status: 6:20 pm | Reading time: 4 minutes

WA few weeks before the US presidential election, the reputation of the United States in several Western nations has fallen to its worst level in about two decades. The citizens of these countries give President Donald Trump and his administration miserable testimony to the Corona crisis. Germany turns out to be particularly critical. In return, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) enjoys national and international support.

This is the result of a survey of citizens of 13 western states conducted by the Washington Pew think tank, which is available to WELT. A total of 13,273 adults were surveyed in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Australia, Japan, Canada, and South Korea. The Americans were not interviewed.

Compared to last year, America’s reputation has suffered significantly: it fell between 12 and 27 percentage points. In several countries, the reputation of the US has been at an all-time low in the last 20 years since Pew conducted such surveys. Only 41 percent of the British and Japanese have a positive image of the United States. For Canadians it is only 35 percent, for French only 31 percent.

Of the Germans, only 26 percent are positive about the United States (2000: 78 percent). Only in March 2003, with the start of the Iraq war, this value was slightly worse at 25 percent. At that time, Germany did not participate in the US-led war, unlike Great Britain, Poland, and Spain, for example. Of the 13 nations currently surveyed, most of all except South Korea have negative comments about the United States.

One of the main reasons for the loss of reputation lies in the poor management in the fight against the crisis of the crown, which so far has caused almost 200,000 deaths and 6.5 million infections in the United States. Only 15 percent of all those surveyed said the Trump administration did a good job.

Germans are even more critical than average, only nine percent praising the crisis management in Washington. Only the Danes and South Koreans judge the United States more harshly. At the same time, the Danes, for example, rate their own government’s work as positive at over 90 percent. 88 percent of Germans give the federal government a good report card.

Most of those questioned approve a convicting verdict on Donald Trump. On average, only one in six esteem the American president. Across the 13 countries, he is on average less popular than Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Belgians (nine percent) show the least confidence in Trump, followed by Danes and Germans (ten percent each) and the French (eleven percent). Trump has the highest approval rating in Japan, where one in four appreciates him. The United States presidential elections will be held on November 3. Polls see Democratic candidate Joe Biden nationally and in many key states ahead of Trump.

Chancellor Merkel (76 percent) has the highest level of confidence among respondents in the 13 countries, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron (64 percent). British Prime Minister Boris Johnson provokes a mixed trial.

48 percent trust him, while 46 percent do not trust him. In addition to Trump, Putin and Xi also encounter enormous mistrust. 83 percent of those surveyed distrust Trump, 78 percent of Xi and 73 percent of Putin. The polls were carried out before the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

In Germany, trust in Trump is lower than the average for the other twelve countries, but trust in Putin (31 percent) is higher. 18 percent of Germans trust Xi, compared to 28 percent last year.

Merkel scored her best in the Netherlands (88 percent), as well as Denmark and Sweden (87 percent each). The Chancellor’s popularity was lowest in Italy (50 percent). Italians, on the other hand, are more positive about Putin than Germans.

As President Trump and his challenger Joe Biden carry out their election campaigns with attacks on China, a clear majority of Germans (55 percent) now view China as the world’s economic leader. Only 17 percent mention the United States here.

Respondents in the 13 countries as a whole also see China ahead (48 percent). Only one in three names the US Only citizens of South Korea and Japan name the United States when asked about global economic leadership.

The EU is classified as “also ran” in its own ranks. Only seven percent of all respondents see the EU as the world’s leading economic power. Of the Germans, 18 percent have this opinion, which means that the EU is more important than the US.