American Image Around the World Strongly Recovers - Horowitz

As President Joe Biden’s meetings with most of our major allies at the G7 Summit, NATO, and in subsequent sessions wrap up and he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin in Geneva tomorrow, the genuine respect and trust that our allies have in our new president especially in contrast to his predecessor as expressed both publicly and privately by the leaders of these nations are matched by their publics. 

The transition from Trump to Biden has fueled a strong recovery in America’s international image, according to a new 16 nation Pew Research Center Poll.  “In each of the 16 publics surveyed, more than six-in-ten say they have confidence in Biden to do the right thing in world affairs, details Pew Research Center. “Looking at 12 nations surveyed both this year and in 2020, a median of 75% express confidence in Biden, compared with 17% for Trump last year.”

The far greater trust that citizens of other nations place in Joe Biden is fueling a precipitous rise in the overall opinion of the United States around the world. “Whereas a median of just 34% across 12 nations had a favorable overall opinion of the U.S. last year, a median of 62% now hold this view,” Pew reports.  Our improved performance on handling COVID-19 has registered internationally and is also contributing to our nation as a whole getting better marks, according to Pew.

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All the perceptual damage of the past 4 years in international opinion, however, has not been erased.  The events leading up to January 6 and the insurrection itself, the former president continuing to falsely and repeatedly claim that he won the election despite the wreckage he wrought, and the support of a majority of one of our two major political parties for at least some of these actions has taken some of the shine off of Ronald Reagan’s famous and appealing description, adapted from John Winthrop, of America as a “Shining City on a Hill.”   

As Pew reports, “a median of just 17% say democracy in the U.S. is a good example for others to follow, while 57% say it used to be a good example but has not been in recent years.”  Similarly, only 1-in-2 say the “US political system is working well.”

At the G7, President Biden used his diplomatic skills and the increased soft power of the US due in part to our new president’s popularity internationally to repair relationships that were tattered by Trump, reaching agreements with our allies on a unified tougher stance on China and Russia and on increased action on the climate.  To some degree, however, our ability to rally the democracies around the world and reclaim our leadership role depends on the health of our democracy at home.  On that topic, both the leaders and the citizens of other nations are reserving judgment.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
 

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