U.S. Ratings at Record Low as Trump Exited, Rally Under Biden

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six months into Joe Biden’s presidency, approval ratings of U.S. leadership around the world had largely rebounded from the record-low ratings observed during the Trump administration.

A new Gallup report shows that as of early August 2021, across 46 countries and territories, median approval of U.S. leadership stood at 49%. This rating is up from the 30% median approval at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency and matches the rating during former President Barack Obama’s first year in office in 2009.

However, while the 49% median approval rating for U.S. leadership so far under Biden compares favorably with ratings during the Obama administration, the 36% disapproval rating is also higher than any of those under Obama. Still, disapproval under Biden is seven percentage points lower than the final disapproval rating under Trump — a record-high 44%.

The global approval ratings for U.S. leadership may change as Gallup completes its 2021 fieldwork in more countries and particularly in the wake of the fallout abroad over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in late August. However, the substantial gains across so many countries halfway through 2021 make it unlikely that the final rating for Biden’s first year in office could retreat to his predecessor’s levels.

The Trump administration claimed a few foreign policy successes in its final year, such as striking a peace deal with the Taliban to bring the then 18-year war in Afghanistan to a close and brokering normalization of relations between Israel and a number of Arab states.

But missed opportunities to engage with the rest of the world during all four years — particularly during the pandemic — likely overshadowed any potential goodwill and help explain the 30% approval rating at the end of Trump’s term.

In the first few hours of his presidency, Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and halted Trump’s decision to leave the World Health Organization. And, in his first foreign policy speech as president, Biden vowed to repair U.S. alliances through diplomacy and restore the image of the U.S.

These words and actions likely reassured many longtime U.S. allies and the international community at large and may have contributed to the surge in approval ratings across most of the 46 countries and territories surveyed through the first half of 2021.

Substantial Gains, No Major Losses in the Trump-to-Biden…