America’s global reputation has improved substantially since Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump as president, a new Pew Research Center survey shows.
More than 60% of the citizens in the 16 countries where the surveys were conducted expressed confidence that Biden would “do the right thing” in handling world affairs, the survey found.
The survey showed that the country’s favorable ratings began to recover after falling significantly during Trump's four years in the White House.
America’s favorability ratings increased by as much as 30% since last year in allied countries such as Germany and France. Positive views of the U.S. last year approached all-time lows in the two countries, as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.
In France, positive views of the U.S. have more than doubled to 65% from 31% last year, according to the survey. During each of Barack Obama’s eight years as president, at least 6 out of 10 French citizens viewed the U.S. favorably.
The survey was released one day after Biden arrived in Britain on the first leg of his first trip abroad as president, intending to reinvigorate America’s global standing and strengthen relationships with vital European allies.
Despite America’s enhanced global standing, the survey shows that many of the 16 countries surveyed are skeptical of the U.S. as an international partner and as a working democracy.
Majorities in most of the countries say U.S. democracy “used to be a good example but has not been in recent years.”
Only 20% of the citizens across the 16 countries believe the U.S. is a “very” reliable ally, while majorities in most of them say it is “somewhat” reliable. About one-third of the citizens in Canada, France, Greece and Spain believe the U.S. is not a reliable global partner.
From March 12 through May 26, Pew surveyed 16,254 adults in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.K.
