Global Views of President Trump Turn Overwhelmingly Negative, Pew Survey Finds

A Pew Research Center poll of more than 42,000 adults in 36 nations conducted between Feb. 8 and May 13 shows only 23 percent of respondents have confidence that President Donald Trump will “do the right thing” in world affairs. Roughly two-thirds expressed no confidence. By comparison, confidence levels for other leaders were higher: French President Emmanuel Macron (43 %), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (35 %), Chinese President Xi Jinping (34 %) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (31 %). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recorded the lowest confidence among the listed leaders at 18 percent.

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The questionnaire was fielded during the U.S.–Israel war against Iran, a period that “has drawn global condemnation while upending the world economy.” Pew did not survey respondents in Russia or China, citing restrictions on foreign NGOs.

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Confidence in Trump was especially low among predominantly Muslim populations: Turkey (6 % confidence), Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (4 %). In Israel, 81 % of respondents hold a positive view of the United States, and 66 % say they trust Trump on world affairs. Sweden’s perception of U.S. reliability fell from 83 % in 2022 to 31 % in the current poll. Seven countries—Hungary, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Colombia—recorded a majority with a positive view of the United States.

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Even among European right-wing populists, support for Trump is slipping. In Hungary, confidence among members of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party dropped from 88 % to 78 % over one year. In Italy, respondents from the Lega and Brothers of Italy parties increasingly lack confidence in Trump’s global judgment.

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Negative assessments of U.S. reliability rose by about 20 percentage points in many countries since the 2022 survey. Sweden exemplifies this trend, falling from a reliable-partner rating of 83 % to 31 %. Pew’s director noted that personal contact with the United States—such as having friends, family, or travel experience—tends to improve opinions, suggesting that the 2026 FIFA World Cup could modestly boost the U.S.’s image.

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Richard Wike, director of global attitudes research at Pew, said the data reveal “huge shifts” in confidence since Trump took office and that the current decline is evident across most surveyed nations. He emphasized that people often separate cultural admiration for a country from disapproval of its policies, and that even right-wing populists are not uniformly enthusiastic about Trump. Wike also noted the potential for the World Cup to generate a “positive impact on how people see the U.S.”

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Respondents linked their low ratings to several of Trump’s controversial policies: steep cuts to U.S. foreign assistance, aggressive tariff regimes, hard-line immigration actions and deportations, the capture of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro, the administration’s handling of Russia’s war in Ukraine, threats to claim Greenland, and the United States’ stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

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• “We actually saw some big shifts last year after Trump took office, but what we have in this year’s data is that there’s even further decline in most countries that we also surveyed last year,” — Richard Wike, Director, Global Attitudes Research, Pew Research Center

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• “People distinguish between how they feel about a country’s culture, quite often, versus how they feel about its policies and things like that,” — Richard Wike

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• “It’s certainly possible that in different ways it [the World Cup] could have a positive impact on how people see the U.S.” — Richard Wike

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• “It’s worth noting that even among right-wing populists, his ratings typically aren’t super positive or anything like that, but he gets better ratings among folks who are on the populist right in Europe, and even among them he’s down a bit,” — Richard Wike

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Pew plans to continue monitoring global attitudes as the war in the Middle East evolves and as the World Cup proceeds, providing further insight into how U.S. foreign-policy actions shape international perceptions of American leadership.

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