A survey conducted in more than 10 countries showed that while Biden is expected to increase US leadership in issues such as combating COVID-19, confidence is low in both the US, as a nation, and as a nation.
President Joe Biden is popular around the world and expects America’s leadership to grow on issues such as combating COVID-19, terrorism and climate change, according to a survey conducted in several countries. But confidence is low both in the United States as a nation and in Biden’s ability to deliver.
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“We wanted to know: if there is a change in administration and if the US is ready to lead again, will anyone follow?” Said Michael Bröning, CEO of the New York office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, central Germany. studies that commissioned the survey. The response of the 12,400 respondents from Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States itself was: “Yes, but.”
“Everything that existed in terms of confidence in the US has dissipated a lot,” Bröning said, adding that levels of international confidence in the US have fallen to those of Russia and China. “This is a long distance from the bright city on a hill.”
When asked by YouGov if they approved of Biden and, separately, if they thought he would offer more global leadership than his predecessor Donald Trump, respondents showed almost as much enthusiasm as similar polls in 2009, when Barack Obama replaced him. on 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 that Trump has strongly courted while in office – such as India and Brazil – Biden has been seen as a welcome change. Only in Russia did respondents disapprove of the change of order in Washington.
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However, when asked if the new US president should meet and will meet specific goals, such as reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran or the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the poll was skeptical about this thing. Biden signed a reunification order in the Paris Agreement on Wednesday immediately after the inauguration ceremony.
The results coincide with those of another recent survey, this time limited to European nations, published on 19 January by the European Council on External Relations, a think tank in Brussels. The study revealed that Biden’s popularity abroad has been undermined by pessimism, including beliefs that the US political system is broken, that Washington can no longer be trusted to ensure Allied security, and that China will be the largest power. world within a decade.
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“Past polls have suggested that a change in president has actually heralded similar changes in attitudes toward America,” said John Ray, poll director at YouGov Blue, which conducted the study. He noted the strong rise in confidence in both the new president and the United States when Obama took office in 2009. “It’s not like that anymore.”
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung poll was conducted online in December after Biden’s election victory became apparent, according to Ray. YouGov surveyed about 1,000 people in each of the 12 countries, and the results were weighted by variables such as respondents’ age, gender, education and religion.