In the wake of President Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, views of the United States deteriorated around the world and today, they remain at historic lows in many countries, particularly among key U.S. partners and allies. With the second anniversary of election night approaching, Pew Research conducted a survey into views of the U.S. and the president in different parts of the world. While on balance, 50 per cent of people polled in 25 countries have a favourable view of the U.S., frustration is evident among America’s neighbours, key allies and most important trading partners.
The following infographic uses Pew data to show how views of the U.S. have changed between the end of Obama’s presidency and 2018 across 12 countries from the survey. Even though Russia has the least favourable views of the U.S. out of all countries, favorability is going up, increasing by 11 per cent by 2018. Israel is another country where views of the U.S. are improving and since the Obama presidency, favorability has gone from 81 to 83 per cent.
Unsurprisingly favorability is down both north and south of the U.S. border. 66 per cent of Mexicans had a favourable view of the U.S. towards the end of Obama’s presidency and over 600 days into Trump’s first term, that has fallen to just 32 per cent. Trump has labelled illegal immigrants from Mexico “rapists” and has pledged to build a wall on America’s southern border. He has also opened a trade dispute with Canada and U.S. favorability has fallen there from 65 to 39 per cent. The situation is similar in Europe where favorability among key allies such as Germany, France and Spain has evaporated. Views of the U.S. are slightly better in Asia, however, with declines evident but far less pronounced in Japan and South Korea.
source: statista