World confidence in US leadership has slumped under Trump administration

Global approval of the US has fallen to a new low, from 48% under Obama to 30% under Trump, Gallup’s global leadership poll finds.

The US now ranks behind China in worldwide approval ratings in a survey conducted on 134 countries, obtaining the lowest marks ever since Gallup began canvassing opinions in 2007.

Gallup linked that steep decline directly to the new president and the policies and behaviour of Trump and his administration.

"I think a lot of respondents when they're being asked this, the first thing that’s top of mind is the leader of the country," Gallup’s global managing partner, Jon Clifton, told POLITICO.

The survey results were published a day after a separate Gallup survey found Trump had concluded his first year in office with the lowest approval rating ever for a US president (39%).

Trump’s "America First" policy, in particular, was the greatest concern outside the US, particularly the possibility that together with his volatile personality it was weakening relationships between western democracies and feeding xenophobic nationalism within Europe.

During his first year in office, Trump withdrew the US from several multilateral initiatives because, according to him, they were not in his country’s 'best interest', including the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership and the Paris Climate Change accord.

He had also threatened to leave the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Nonetheless, Gallup concluded, "It is too early in Trump’s presidency to deem his 'America first' foreign policy a success or failure.

"However, it is clear that based on the trajectory of what the world thinks of the US, many of the US's alliances and partnerships that the Trump administration considers a "great strength" are potentially at risk."

Disapproval increased almost as much as approval declined, setting a new record in the process.

In almost half the countries canvassed (65 out of 134), America's standing fell by 10 percentage points or more, with some of the biggest losses seen among European countries. In the UK, the approval rate for the US dropped by 26 points with 63% voicing their disapproval.

On the other hand, some of the countries were the approval rating for the US improved by by more than 10 percentage points were Belarus, Israel, Macedonia and Liberia.

"However the world feels about U.S. leadership, it hasn’t affected how the world feels about the American dream," Clifton said. "There are still a lot of people that want to come here despite how they feel about our leadership."

Enjoying a 41% approval rating, instead of the US, Germany is now seen as a global leader by many more people.

Jon Clifton said "This year marks a significant change in our trends. Only 30% of the world, on average, approves of the US’s leadership job performance, down from 48% in 2016.

"In fact, more people now disapprove of US leadership than approve. This historic low puts the US’s leadership approval rating on a par with China’s and sets a new bar for disapproval."