A Gallup report published Tuesday found approval of United States leadership in 46 countries and territories hit 49% — up from 30% at the end of Donald Trump's presidency, and matching former President Obama's first year (2009).
Why it matters: Biden's efforts to reengage with the international community following the Trump administration appear to be improving the global approval ratings for U.S. leadership, though this poll does not take into account the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.
- Gallup said America's global approval ratings will likely continue to shift as it completes its polling for 2021, though it is unlikely to drop to Trump-era lows.
By the numbers: The transition from Trump to Biden significantly improved the approval rating of U.S. leadership in 36 of the 46 countries and territories surveyed by Gallup through the first half of the year.
- Ratings improved the most among European allies, including Portugal (52 percentage points), the Netherlands (45 points), Norway (42 points) and Sweden (41 points).
- After Biden assumed office, ratings of U.S. leadership decreased in just three countries: Russia, Serbia and Benin.
The big picture: Trump exited the White House with an extremely low international approval rating despite some foreign policy successes, such as the Abraham Accords.
- However, four years of controversial decisions — like leaving the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization — likely overshadowed the Trump administration's foreign policy successes.
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Methodology: Results for the 2020 approval ratings are based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult populations, aged 15 and older, in 108 to 109 countries and areas.
- For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error ranges from ±1.1 to ±5.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
- Results for the 2021 approval ratings are based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult populations, aged 15 and older, in 46 countries and areas surveyed between April and August 2021.
- For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error ranges from ±2.8 to ±5.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.