A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that the vast majority of the world has a negative attitude toward U.S. President Donald Trump, and fewer people consider the United States a reliable partner, UNN reports, citing The Hill.
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Among more than 42,000 respondents in 36 countries, approximately two-thirds expressed distrust of Trump's leadership in world affairs.
The survey was conducted from February 8 to May 13, largely during the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran. The war drew global condemnation while upending the world economy.
Researchers also asked respondents about Trump's most controversial global policies over the past year and a half. These policies include significant cuts to U.S. foreign aid; the imposition of tariffs; his tough immigration actions and deportations; the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; his actions in Russia's war against Ukraine; the U.S. president's threats to seize Greenland; and the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"We actually saw some big shifts last year after Trump took office, but this year's data shows that in most countries we also surveyed last year, there is an even further decline," said Richard Wike, director of global attitudes research at Pew.
Trust in Trump has declined since last year in 16 of 24 countries, Pew found, and none of the surveyed countries showed an increase in positive attitudes toward the U.S. president. Only 23 percent of respondents said they are confident that Trump is doing the right thing in world affairs.
Respondents have more trust in French President Emmanuel Macron (43 percent), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (35 percent), Chinese leader Xi Jinping (34 percent), and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin (31 percent). Only Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inspired less trust than Trump, at 18 percent.
Trump, according to Pew, receives mostly poor ratings for how he has handled key foreign policy issues, including tariffs, Gaza, Iran, Greenland, and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
"Trump receives low ratings in Europe for how he handles Greenland and the war between Russia and Ukraine," the research center noted.
The surveys were not conducted in Russia or China. Some of the lowest ratings came from predominantly Muslim populations, including Malaysians, Pakistanis, Turks, and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Pew notes that it was unable to survey Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In Turkey and among Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the lowest levels of trust in Trump were recorded — 6% and 4%, respectively. In Turkey, a NATO ally, only 13% had a favorable view of the U.S., while only 9% of Palestinian respondents in the West Bank and Jerusalem had a favorable view of the U.S.
The survey is being conducted against the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup being held in the U.S., where some foreign visitors shared positive travel experiences and were surprised by the warm welcome in American cities.
It is unclear how many foreigners visited the U.S., but there are preliminary signs that the numbers are lower than the forecasts of the Trump administration and FIFA, which expected between 6 and 10 million attendees.
Although Pew did not survey respondents about their attitudes toward hosting the FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Wike said other polls have shown that people who have more contact with the U.S., have friends or family in the country, or have visited the U.S., generally have a more positive attitude.
"People quite often distinguish between how they feel about a country's culture and how they feel about its politics and so on," he said.
"It is entirely possible that [the World Cup] could positively influence how people perceive the U.S.," the researcher added.
In the latest data, Wike said one thing that struck him was the "huge shifts" regarding the question of U.S. reliability. Many countries saw a 20-point increase in negative views of the U.S. compared to when the question was asked in 2022.
Wike cited Sweden as an example, which joined NATO in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At that time, 83 percent of Swedes said they considered the U.S. a reliable partner. Today, that figure has dropped to 31 percent.
The survey notes that attitudes toward Trump in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom are roughly equal to or slightly higher than the ratings received by U.S. President George W. Bush at the end of his second term.
There were some exceptions in the survey: seven surveyed countries recorded a majority with a positive view of the U.S. — in Hungary, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Colombia.
In Israel, 81 percent of respondents have a positive view of the U.S., and 66 percent of respondents said they are confident that Trump is doing the right thing in world affairs.
Wike said Trump receives better ratings among Europeans with ideologically right-wing and populist right-wing views, but even these numbers are declining. In Hungary, among members of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, 78 percent are confident that Trump will do the right thing in world affairs, but that is down from 88 percent the previous year.
In Italy, more respondents from the right-wing parties League and Brothers of Italy are not confident that Trump will do the right thing. The survey was conducted before Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, head of Brothers of Italy, responded to Trump and said he made up a story about her begging for a photo at the Group of Seven summit in France.
"It is worth noting that even among right-wing populists, his ratings are usually not very positive or anything like that, but he gets better ratings among people who hold populist right-wing views in Europe, and even among them, he is declining slightly," Wike said.
Europe's trust in the US has collapsed to a historic low of 11% - poll13.06.26, 08:19