In the UK, France, Germany and Spain, low levels of confidence in US president Trump were expressed, according to a new study from Pew Research which polled 40 000 people in 37 nations. Only 11 percent of Germans and 22 percent of those in Canada and the UK had faith in Trump’s global leadership.
In addition to revealing global views on President Trump, the survey also examined attitudes toward three other major leaders on the international stage.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin also get poor ratings, though neither is rated as negatively as the US president. Across the 37 nations surveyed, a median of 28 percent had confidence in Xi, while 27 percent said the same about Putin.
Some 42 percent expressed confidence in German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a mainstream media darling. In Europe 60 percent voiced confidence in Merkel, and her ratings are particularly strong on the political left, even though she claims to be from the “conservative” Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
But both Xi and Merkel are less well-known than Trump and Putin. Roughly one-in-five globally have no opinion about the Chinese and German leaders.
The sharp decline in trust in the US president was noted in neighbouring Mexico and Canada, but Trump gets higher marks than former president Obama in two countries: Russia and Israel.
On balance most nations were however not convinced that Trump’s presidency would affect their bilateral relations with the US.
Globally only a third of people polled expressed support for Trump’s proposed travel ban on people entering the US from certain Muslim-majority countries. In four countries – Hungary, Israel, Poland and Russia – more than half endorsed his Muslim ban.
Opposition to the travel ban is especially strong in countries with Muslim-majority populations, including Jordan, Lebanon and Senegal.
Trump continued his attacks on the news media on Sunday. He tweeted a video in which he wrestles a villain whose face is covered by a superimposed CNN logo. A logo then appears on the screen reading “FNN: Fraud News Network”.
On Saturday, he had tweeted: “My use of social media is not Presidential – it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!”
White House aide Sebastian Gorka said in a radio interview on Sunday both CNN and The New York Times were facing problems as a result of reporting fake news about Trump and Russia.
Gorka, who serves as deputy assistant to President Trump, told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York: “The fake news complex is collapsing in on itself. We see that with the massive scandal at CNN, having to fire people who were generating totally false stories about the administration.” He added: “We see that with the severe personnel cuts at The New York Times.”
On Saturday “Celebrate Freedom Rally” speech, Trump attacked the “fake media” for undermining his presidency: “The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them — because the people know the truth,” Trump said at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
