US Image Abroad Plummets - Rob Horowitz

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™

 

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Putin higher ranked than Trump

The image of the United States, which had already precipitously declined during the Trump Administration, has plummeted even further down over the past year, according to a recently released survey of 13 nations conducted by Pew Research Center.   

This year’s decline is at least partially a result of the negative perceptions around the world of how the United States has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Only a median of 15% across the publics of 13 nations say the United States is doing a good job of handling the pandemic. This is the case, even though the survey was conducted before President Trump and a number of his close advisors and staffers contracted the virus, which in all likelihood would drive this dismal rating even lower.

In contrast, a majority give the European Union, World Health Organization and their own nation good marks on this topic. Even China, while receiving poor marks over-all on the handling of COVID-19, is viewed as out-performing the United States by the residents of a broad cross-section of nations.  In fact, publics in all 13 countries surveyed give the United States the lowest marks of all the nations and organizations tested.

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The highly negative perceptions of President Trump continue to be a major contributing factor to the tough hit our image has taken internationally. The median percentage across public that have confidence that President Trump “will do the right thing in world affairs” is only 16%.

Trump is viewed much more negatively than other world leaders. As the Pew poll report details, “Among the six leaders included on the survey, Angela Merkel receives the highest marks: A median of 76% across the nations polled have confidence in the German chancellor. French President Emmanuel Macron also gets largely favorable reviews. Ratings for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are roughly split.

Ratings for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are overwhelmingly negative, although not as negative as those for Trump.”

The median favorable view of the United States across the 13 nations stands at only 34%. “Positive views of the U.S. are at or near an all-time low in most countries for which trends are available,” Pew reports.
 
As Pew states, “Views of the U.S. generally shift in tandem with confidence in the American president.”  A highly negative view of President Trump internationally, super-charged by the perceptions of how poorly he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, has tanked our image abroad.  It is no accident that under President Obama who was trusted by publics around the world, consistently receiving high marks in these surveys, the United States was by and large favorably perceived.

President Trump has squandered this legacy of trust and the result is a big loss of soft power and influence. More nations are going it alone or getting closer to China--no longer trusting or counting on the United States. In the long run, this makes for a less safe world over-all and one where we will have more difficulty effectively advancing our interests.
 
 

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Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
 
 

 

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