The Pew Research Center surveyed more than 40,000 people in 37 countries this year, examining global attitudes to the US and the president since Barack Obama left office. The numbers are grim reading for anyone but Vladimir Putin.
Confidence in the US president has collapsed 42 points to just 22%, while favorable views of the country overall have dropped 15 points to 49%. The declines are staggering in European countries, and in the 10 countries where US presidential favorability ratings plunged the most, including South Korea and Japan: two allies who are clearly not reassured by Trump’s belligerent tone toward North Korea. Trump starts his presidency at the low point where George W Bush ended his, after years of cowboy diplomacy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are just two countries registering a rise in confidence since the Obama era ended: Israel and Russia. In Israel, where Obama clashed repeatedly with the Netanyahu government, confidence has risen 7 points, from 49 to 56%: hardly a tidal wave of happiness. The only country to fully embrace Donald Trump is Mother Russia herself, where confidence has rocketed 42 points, from 11% to 53%. Given the number of Russian immigrants in Israel, the two countries may really reflect only one dynamic: the curious case of Trump’s crush on Moscow.
These results are not just passing curiosities; they have potentially serious consequences for American foreign policy. If the public and foreign politicians have little or no confidence or trust in you they will not be there for you if you really need their support. Trying to deal with a President with the attention span of a ten-year-old, who can’t or won’t study up on the issues, is a sure guarantee of being ignored when the chips are down. Americans like to think in terms of a pax Americana (although pax might be be a somewhat misleading word after so many years of war). Trump is encouraging foreign countries to re- think their foreign policies. After so long that is an agonising thing to have to do. America is squandering her goodwill.
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It’s absolutely indisputable that Trump is damaging America’s reputation worldwide. But I’m not sure if this is a sign of long term American decline. During the latter half of the Bush era, America was viewed relatively unfavourably worldwide. But Obama’s presidency sent America’s approval ratings soaring, especially in Europe. It’s very likely that a Democrat elected in 2020 will renew America’s reputation.
I wouldn’t read too much into Trump’s approval ratings in Russia and Israel. There will always be some countries that view the president differently to the world as a whole. In Obama’s case, it was Israel and Pakistan who viewed him particularly harshly. What really matters is that Europe and Canada- America’s closest allies- far prefer Obama to Trump.
A house divided shall surely fall. The problem lies in the deep division within the country, made much, much worse by the so- called Tea Party and corruption. Nothing is getting done, except by Presidential fiat. Renewal of the infrastrucure, getting more urgent by the day, would now be horrendously expensive. It has become this way because the rich people, who fund the politicos, will not tolerate the higher taxes required to fund it. Inequality gets worse all the time, the growth of insecure, pitifully paid jobs continues. etc. All this because the ultra- rich have a lock-hold on Congress and on nearly all State governments (thanks partly to the ghastly ALEC). Changing a government wouldn’t make much difference. The arms manufacturers would still keep the wars humming away, guns will still kill as many as are killed in an average war every year. More will die at younger ages than in other ” developed” countries because of the daft, over- complex “healthcare” system, designed that way to ensure that all providers make a profit the American way. None of the tribal behaviour is going to change, except that America will continue to get weaker and weaker, and………. The only arguably good thing is that, as more and more people see the need to learn Chinese, the size of the young foreign workforce in the IS ( and UK), there primarily to improve their English, will fall, offering jobs ( typically badly paid) to the American- born youth. Ironic Hurrah.