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  "description": "US polling points to collapsing confidence in Donald Trump abroad, with allies especially negative about his leadership, reliability, and perceived danger.",
  "path": "/2026/06/09/how-the-world-sees-donald-trump-surveys-show-other-countries-see-us-president-as-unreliable-and-dangerous/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-09T00:10:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.europeans.today",
  "tags": [
    "survey conducted in April",
    "spring 2025 survey",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Economist Intelligence Unit",
    "as seems likely",
    "“truth and reconciliation commission”",
    "US declares war in Iran ‘over’ to avoid row with Congress over whether it was legal",
    "Is Trump losing the support of his Maga base?",
    "Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order",
    "Opinion of US has worsened in countries around world in last year, survey shows",
    "Majorities in key US allies have no confidence in Trump",
    "The Conversation",
    "KORWEN"
  ],
  "textContent": "**What you need to know**\n\n🔹 Pew polling shows low international confidence in Donald Trump’s handling of world affairs.\n🔹 Traditional US allies including Canada, Germany, France and Australia view Trump and the United States more negatively.\n🔹 Most respondents across many surveyed countries described Trump as _“dangerous”_.\n🔹 America’s global standing may require concrete reassurance to Nato allies after Trump leaves office.\n\n\n\n\nAmericans are increasingly turning against the war in Iran and the president who launched it. According to a survey conducted in April by US-based pollster, Pew International, 61% of people in the US disapprove of the war while only 37% approve. The US president’s overall approval rating, meanwhile, has slipped to 34%.\n\nIn many other countries, however, this disenchantment looms larger. Pew’s spring 2025 survey revealed 12 months ago a strong lack of confidence in Donald Trump across much of the world. The survey was conducted in 24 mostly European countries, but also countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.\n\nRespondents were asked a question about the confidence they had in Trump to do the right thing in world affairs.\n\nThe country with the lowest levels of confidence was Mexico with Canada, Sweden and Germany not far behind. Interestingly, proximity to the United States appears to boost a lack of confidence in the president, with Canada and Mexico much less confident than other countries.\n\nRespondents in the UK were more likely to be confident than those in other European countries such as France, Spain and Italy. But even then, only 37% of UK respondents were confident, compared with 63% who were not. The UK score is rather similar to Japan which has also been a longstanding ally of the US.\n\nThere were five countries in which the president enjoyed a positive net level of confidence: Hungary, Kenya, India, Israel and Nigeria. These are all classified as hybrid authoritarian regimes or flawed democracies by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It shows that citizens of weak democracies or authoritarian states quite like him.\n\n### Is Trump dangerous?\n\nThis lack of confidence in the president is only part of the story. The survey asked what respondents thought about various traits that could be associated with Trump as president. It asked if they thought he was he was _“well qualified”_ , _“strong”_ , _“honest”_ or _“diplomatic”_. It also asked if he was _“arrogant”_ or _“dangerous”_.\n\nThe second chart shows the percentage of respondents who thought that he was _“dangerous”_. It makes sober reading. More than 50% of the respondents in 21 of the countries thought this. It seems likely that the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, which took place after the survey was in the field, will have reinforced these perceptions. The war is stalled and the economic repercussions are likely to increase its unpopularity both in the US and around the world.\n\n### The prospects for post-Trump America\n\nThe US can, of course, recover from the Trump era. Unlike Russia, where periods of democracy have been an aberration in its history, the US has been a democracy for 250 years. That said, it is currently classified as a _“flawed democracy”_ in the Economist Intelligence Unit database.\n\nBut if, as seems likely, the Democrats outperform the Republicans in the midterm elections in November this year, they will regain control of either the House or the Senate, or both. This would be a severe blow to Trumpism.\n\nIf Congress is controlled by the Democrats, they can veto any of Trump’s legislative proposals, hamstring his policies by withholding funding and at the same time initiate impeachment proceedings against him. Such actions will very likely make him a lame duck, leading to a loss of support for Republicans in the presidential elections in 2028.\n\nThe survey also shows that America’s reputation as a reliable ally and supporter of democracy has been seriously damaged across the world in his two terms in the White House. The third chart shows the percentage of survey respondents who have a favourable or unfavourable view of the US.\n\nIt is striking that many of America’s traditional allies such as Australia, Canada, Germany and France now have a very unfavourable view of the US. This contrasts with the flawed democracies or hybrid authoritarian states who like him. Although, to be fair, attitudes to the US overall are much more favourable than attitudes to Trump.\n\nHow might the US regain the international respect it has clearly lost under Trump as president? In the realm of foreign policy, actions speak louder than words – and America’s Nato allies will need to see some kind of concrete assurance that Washington is prepared to resume the leadership and security roles it is apparently abandoning under the current administration.\n\nPerhaps what it also needs is some kind of “truth and reconciliation commission”, along the lines of the one set up by Nelson Mandela following the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. Once Trump has left office, America needs to understand clearly what has happened so that it can avoid this in the future. It is a cliché – but nonetheless true – that people who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.\n\n### **GOING FURTHER**\n\n  * ######  US declares war in Iran ‘over’ to avoid row with Congress over whether it was legal | Europeans TODAY\n\n  * ######  Is Trump losing the support of his Maga base? | Europeans TODAY\n\n  * ######  Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order | Europeans TODAY\n\n  * ######  Opinion of US has worsened in countries around world in last year, survey shows | The Guardian\n\n  * ######  Majorities in key US allies have no confidence in Trump | NPR\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n#### **Sources:**\n\n###### ▪ This piece was originally published in The Conversation and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 9 June 2026. | The author writes in a personal capacity.\n\n###### ▪ **Cover:** Dreamstime/KORWEN.\n\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n\n",
  "title": "How the world sees Donald Trump: Surveys show other countries see US president as ‘unreliable’ and ‘dangerous’",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-09T23:29:32.919Z"
}