Bruce Stokes presented the results of a wide-reaching Pew Research Center poll
The Pew Research Center, one of the world’s leading opinion research institutes, has completed its extensive survey of international views of the United States, President Trump, and American soft power. Collecting data in 37 countries, the study examined public opinion on how it sees the West’s leading power in comparison with China, the EU, and Japan. The questions include views on US leadership, specific policies of the Trump administration, and the public’s assessment of America’s economic attractiveness and its protection of individual freedom.
Conducting polls in 37 countries this spring, the Pew Research Center found a distinct drop in the favorability ratings of the United States – an unprecedented level of unpopularity – alongside evidence of widespread disapproval of President Donald Trump and his policies. In Germany, the survey showed disappointment in the US to be particularly high. The survey’s sobering results suggest that the rest of the world is losing its faith in America as a guarantor of democracy, and that President Donald Trump is a major factor in this.
Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes at Pew Research Center and co-author of the study, presented highlights from the report to the DGAP. MP Jürgen Hardt, coordinator for transatlantic cooperation at the German Foreign Office, offered a German government perspective on the survey results. The DGAP’s director, Daniela Schwarzer, chaired the ensuing discussion, which focused on the long-term consequences for transatlantic relations. Henning Riecke, head of the DGAP’s USA / Transatlantic Relations program, also commented on the study.
The event was organized by the USA/Transatlantic Relations Program.
A summary of the study and a complete pdf of the report are available (in English) here on the Pew Center’s website.
Pew Research Center, “US Image Suffers as Publics Around World Question Trump’s Leadership: America Still Wins Praise for its People, Culture, and Civil Liberties,” Report, June, 2017, 109 pages.
