skip to main content
Gallup Blog
Gallup U.S. Global Leadership Update
Gallup Blog

Gallup U.S. Global Leadership Update

As data continue to pour in from Gallup's 2020 surveys across the globe, approval ratings of U.S. leadership before Inauguration Day next week are still tracking lower than they have at most points in the past decade.

Across 60 countries and areas surveyed during the last year of Donald Trump's presidency, median approval of U.S. leadership stands at 22%. The highest global rating for U.S. leadership during the Trump administration was 33% in 2019.

While generally unpopular across much of the world and particularly among key allies, U.S. leadership did find favor among the majority of the population in seven of the 60 countries: Dominican Republic (66%), Cameroon (62%), Georgia (61%), Zambia (56%), Albania (56%), the Philippines (55%) and Uganda (53%). U.S. leadership garners the lowest approval ratings in Germany (6%), Iran (6%) and Iceland (5%).

Approval of U.S. Leadership Across 60 Countries and Areas
Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of the leadership of the United States?
Approve
%
Dominican Republic 66
Cameroon 62
Georgia 61
Zambia 56
Albania 56
Philippines 55
Uganda 53
Mauritius 50
Zimbabwe 50
Ecuador 43
Colombia 42
Moldova 40
Brazil 40
Japan 39
Kyrgyzstan 34
Namibia 34
Bulgaria 32
Cambodia 32
Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China 31
Poland 30
South Korea 30
Bolivia 30
Australia 29
Taiwan, Province of China 28
New Zealand 26
Mexico 26
Malta 26
Ethiopia 25
Argentina 24
Ukraine 24
Greece 21
Croatia 21
Morocco 21
Serbia 20
Ireland 20
Finland 20
Slovenia 19
Cyprus 19
Tunisia 19
Italy 19
France 18
Russia 18
Netherlands 18
Canada 17
Spain 17
Chile 16
Estonia 15
United Kingdom 15
Denmark 14
Turkey 13
Slovakia 13
Norway 12
Portugal 12
Belgium 12
Sweden 11
Switzerland 10
Austria 9
Iran 6
Germany 6
Iceland 5
Gallup World Poll, 2020

Bottom Line

The global picture of the image of U.S. leadership during the last year of the Trump presidency is becoming somewhat clearer as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. But until all of Gallup's 2020 fieldwork is complete in a few months, it is still too early to say that the U.S. will see its worst ranking in the history of Gallup's World Poll.

However, the picture that has emerged thus far makes the foreign policy headwinds that Biden faces as he takes the helm that much more obvious. Further, Gallup collected these data before the violent protests at the U.S. Capitol, which likely will only make the challenge of restoring the U.S. reputation abroad even tougher.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.

Author(s)

Julie Ray is a writer and editor at Gallup.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/328490/gallup-global-leadership-update.aspx)
Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A
+1 202.715.3030