People in 34 countries around the world have more confidence in the president Joe Biden than his opponent in the November elections, former President donald trumpalthough there is growing skepticism that United States democracy provides a good model for the rest of the world to follow, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday.
The poll found a median of 43% in countries surveyed who say they trust Biden to do the right thing in world affairs, compared to 28% for Trump. People had a more positive assessment of Biden than Trump in 24 countries, while Trump led in Hungary and Tunisia and the two men were effectively tied in eight other countries.
Increased confidence in Biden comes as faith in US democracy is waning. While a median of 54% across the 34 countries surveyed have positive views of the US, a median of 4 in 10 countries surveyed told researchers that their democracy used to be a good example for other countries to follow, but no longer is. .
A median of 21% said U.S. democracy continues to be a good example for other nations, while a nearly identical percentage, 22%, said it never has been. Since spring 2021, the only other time Pew has asked the question, the percentage of those who believe U.S. democracy is a good example has fallen in eight countries, mostly in Europe.
“People just don’t see the U.S. political system working very well,” said Richard Wike, director of global attitudes research at Pew. “People see the U.S. as really divided along party lines.”
There is much less global division between Trump and Biden. Confidence in the current president to do the right thing in world affairs has declined since his first year in office, but remains well above that of his rival, who had relatively low global ratings during his own presidency. Biden’s lowest trust ratings were over his handling of the Israel-Hamas Warwith a median of 57% saying they did not have confidence in him.
A median of 39% in the countries surveyed said they approved of Biden’s handling of the war in Ukraine, with the highest ratings in European countries. And an average of about four in 10 were confident in their handling of China.
Of the five leaders evaluated in the survey, French President Emmanuel Macron recorded the highest level of trust, just ahead of Biden, while Russian President Vladimir Putin received the lowest.
While trust in Biden has declined in countries ranging from South Africa to Israel to the United Kingdom, it remains increasingly higher than that of Trump. The former president received the worst ratings in Europe – where those who expressed no confidence in him included more than eight in 10 adults in France, Germany and Sweden – and in Latin America.
Africa, which Wike says tends to have positive views of US presidents, posted some of Trump’s best numbers. Even in the two countries where more confidence was expressed in Trump than in Biden, they were against the former president. In Tunisia, for example, only 17% expressed confidence in him.
Hungary is the other country where adults report greater trust in Trump than Biden, but even there it is far from a resounding endorsement. Trump has hugged Hungary and its autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, but only 37% in Hungary say they have confidence in him, compared to 24% for Biden.
The average level of confidence in Trump’s ability to do the right thing in world affairs was only slightly higher across the 34 countries than it was for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
