Polls: America’s image abroad has recovered since Biden took office

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport in Newquay, near Newquay, England, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall early Thursday, June 10, 2021 (Phil Noble/Pool Photo via AP)

America’s image around the world has improved dramatically since President Joe Biden took office, according to new polls conducted in 16 countries, including many of America’s longtime allies.

Pew Research Center polls show that a majority of citizens in all countries, more than 6 in 10 in each, express confidence in Biden. “Do the right thing” in world affairs.

Biden arrived in Britain on Wednesday on the first leg of his first foreign tour, hoping to restore America’s global standing and strengthen partnerships with key European allies.

America’s positive ratings are beginning to rebound after falling sharply during Donald Trump’s four years as president, growing by up to 30 percentage points from last year in partner countries like France and Germany. In 2020, positive opinions from the United States are at or near low levels in these two countries, as well as in the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.

In France, for example, 65% now have a favorable opinion of the United States, up from 31% last year. More than half in France did not rate the United States favorably during Trump’s presidency, but at least 6 in 10 did so during each of Barack Obama’s eight years as president.

And 74% of the public in France say they trust Biden, a Democrat, to do the right thing in world affairs, compared to just 11% who said so to Trump, a Republican, last year. In the 12 countries surveyed in 2020 and 2021, the confidence gap between the two presidents was at least 40 percentage points in Biden’s favor across all 12 countries.

Biden seeks to reassure allies about his commitment to America’s role abroad, which is at odds with Trump’s “America first” Approaching. Biden is scheduled to meet initially with G7 leaders before heading to Brussels for a NATO summit, meeting with European Union heads of state and several face-to-face meetings with other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

Although the global position of the United States is becoming more optimistic among the citizens of these countries around the world, Biden faces challenges as he seeks to extricate the United States from the Trump era. Opinion polls show that many countries are skeptical of the United States, as a global partner and as a functioning democracy.

More than 2 in 10 in 16 countries do not say the United States is a “very” The majority trusted partner to contact us “Small” trusted. In Canada, France, Spain and Greece, nearly a third say the United States is unreliable as a global partner.

Germany is the only country surveyed where a majority say relations with the United States will improve in the coming years. In most other countries, many believe that the relationship will remain the same rather than improve.

The state of American democracy also receives mixed opinions around the world. In Canada, for example, 6 in 10 say the political system in the United States is not working well, as do two-thirds of Australians and New Zealanders. About 4 in 10 in France and Spain say American democracy is doing poorly, compared to the weak majority who say it is at least doing well. People in Germany and the United Kingdom are deeply divided.

And the majority in most of the 16 countries says that America’s democracy “It used to be a good example, but it hasn’t been in recent years.”

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Pew Research Center surveyed a total of 16,254 adults in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. from March. May 12-26.