A survey conducted in more than 10 countries found that while Biden is expected to bolster US leadership on issues such as the fight against COVID-19, confidence is low in both the US as a nation and as a nation.
President Joe Biden is popular across much of the world, and America’s leadership is expected to grow in the fight against COVID-19, terrorism and climate change, according to a study conducted in multiple countries. But confidence is low both in the US as a nation and in Biden’s ability to perform.
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“We wanted to know: If there is a change in the administration and the US is ready to lead again, will someone follow?” Said Michael Bröning, CEO of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s New York office. center of German. studies that commissioned the study. The answer of the 12,400 respondents in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the US itself was “Yes, but.”
“Whatever there was in terms of confidence in the US, it really wiped out a lot,” Bröning said, adding that the level of international confidence in the US had fallen relative to that of Russia and China. “That’s a long way from the bright city on a hill.”
When asked by YouGov whether they approved of Biden and, individually, whether they thought he would provide more global leadership than his predecessor Donald Trump, respondents showed almost as much enthusiasm as similar polls in 2009, when Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush. – Another unpopular president of the United States – in the White House.
Eighty-nine percent of Kenyans, 73% of Germans, and more than 60% of French, Indians, Indonesians, Mexicans, and South Africans said they approved of Biden. Even in countries where Trump was often courted during his tenure, such as India and Brazil, Biden was seen as a welcome change. Only in Russia did respondents disapprove of the change of command in Washington.
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However, when asked if the new president of the US should meet specific goals, and if so, such as reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran or the Paris Agreement on climate change, the poll was skeptical about the question whether that would happen. Biden signed an order on Wednesday immediately after the inauguration ceremony to rejoin the Paris Agreement.
The results coincide with those of another recent poll, this time limited to European countries, published January 19 by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a Brussels think tank. The study found that Biden’s popularity abroad was undermined by pessimism, including the belief that the U.S. political system has been broken, that Washington can no longer be trusted to provide security to allies, and that within a decade China will become the world’s greatest power. to be.
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“Previous polls suggested that a change in president actually heralded similar changes in attitudes toward America,” said John Ray, director of polls at YouGov Blue, who led the investigation. He cited the surge in both confidence in the new president and in the US when Obama took office in 2009. “That is no longer the case.”
The poll for Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung was held online in December after Biden’s election victory became apparent, Ray said. YouGov surveyed approximately 1,000 people from each of the 12 countries, and the results were weighted based on variables such as age, gender, education and religion of the respondents.