US global leadership ratings bounce back under Biden: poll
Approval ratings for U.S. leadership around the world have largely rebounded under President Biden after having reached a record low under former President Trump, according to a new Gallup poll released on Tuesday.
The Gallup poll found that Biden's median approval rating in August was 49 percent across 46 different countries and territories, the same approval rating that former President Obama had during his first year in office.
Trump's median approval rating was at a low of 30 percent by the time he left office.
However, Gallup noted that Biden's disapproval rating was also higher than Obama's had ever been, at 36 percent, though it remained below Trump's record-high disapproval rating of 44 percent.
The global approval of U.S. leadership may change as Gallup continues to collect more information.
Though the Trump administration gained some foreign policy wins toward the end of the president's term, Gallup concluded that "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."
Approval ratings of U.S. leadership in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany jumped by at least 30 points in the year since Trump left office. Approval ratings increased in most of the countries surveyed by Gallup, though they fell by 5 percent in Russia.
"With the Trump administration in the rearview mirror, Biden's early efforts to restore alliances and respect for the U.S. on the world stage appeared to be paying off in the first six months of his presidency," Gallup wrote. "But what happens in the next six months — and in the aftermath of the quick U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — may set the tone and position of the U.S. for the rest of his presidency."
The results of Gallup's survey were found from "nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult populations" of the countries surveyed, with respondents aged 15 and older. The countries were surveyed between April and August, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 to 5 percentage points.