Editor's note: On July 23, the Brookings Institution, a well-known think tank in United States, released an opinion piece entitled "Comparing Global Perceptions of United States and China during the Trump and Biden Administrations", which synthesizes surveys and statistics from the United States Pew Research Center, the World Bank and other institutions, revealing the changes in the world's perceptions of China and United States from the Trump administration to the Biden administration. Among them, the approval of the United States in most countries has dropped significantly, while China's recognition among the countries of the Global South has increased rapidly. The 23rd issue of the "Regional and Country Dynamics" column of the Chongyang National People's Congress is now compiled and published as follows:
Compare global perceptions of United States and China under the Trump and Biden administrations
Published: July 23, 2024
发布机构：布鲁金斯学会（Brookings Institution）
作者：Jessica Shao, Patricia M. Kim
Original link:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/comparing-global-views-of-the-united-states-and-china-during-the-trump-and-biden-administrations/
The United States and China are fiercely competing in various areas – including global public opinion. The 2024 presidential election will have a crucial impact on the world's perception of United States leadership, and the next administration would do well to consider how global audiences perceive United States and China during the Trump and Biden administrations.
During the Trump administration, international recognition of United States' leadership fell to an all-time low. Trump's withdrawal from multilateral institutions such as the World Health Organization and treaties such as the Paris Agreement, restrictive policies on immigration, and aggressive tariffs have all alienated United States' allies and non-allies. Global perceptions of United States deteriorated by 20 percentage points during the pandemic.
The United States under President Joe Biden's · renewed engagement with global affairs, and his administration's emphasis on strengthening ties with allies and partners has boosted confidence in United States leadership. But with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian war, and concerns about the competition between China and the United States, global perceptions of United States leadership have weakened, and confidence in the Biden administration has slipped from 58% in 2022 to 43% in 2024. In the Global South, especially in Southeast Asia, the gap between support for China and United States has narrowed. These developments are worrying because United States' soft power – the ability to inspire cooperation among partners who appreciate United States' values, culture, and vision – has been integral to United States' leadership on the international stage. Therefore, the new administration urgently needs to reaffirm United States' global leadership and strengthen United States' reputation as a force for peace and stability.
The Evolution of Perceptions of China and the United States
Trump Administration (2017-2020)
After Donald · Trump took office in 2017, global perceptions of United States fell to a low point. Just a few months after Trump took office, less than half of respondents in a Pew Research Center survey of respondents in 37 countries had a positive view of United States, compared with 64 percent at the end of President Ma's term. The 2017 United Kingdom Global Services poll showed the same trend – the United States saw the largest decline in ratings among all countries surveyed compared to 2014, with some of its NATO allies, including United Kingdom, Spain, France and Turkey, seeing double-digit declines in negative ratings. In 2017 and 2018, a growing number of people around the world also began to view United States' power and influence as a "significant threat" to their country. In 34 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, only 22 percent of Pew respondents in 2017 were confident that Trump would take the right action on global affairs. Trump's signature policy proposals, including withdrawing United States from international climate and trade agreements, plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and a "Muslim ban," were overwhelmingly opposed by respondents. More than 60 percent of respondents in the 37 countries surveyed by Pew in 2017 described Trump as "arrogant," "intolerant," and even "dangerous."
In 2017, according to Gallup's 2018 World Leaders Ratings Report, Germany replaced United States as the world's highest-rated power. The median global approval rating for United States leadership performance fell from 48 percent in 2016 to 30 percent in 2017, a record low. About three-quarters or more of respondents in United States traditional allies, such as Germany, France, Spain and Netherlands, lack confidence in Trump. Trump's approval ratings in Mexico are particularly low, with 89 percent having no confidence in his ability to do the right thing in international affairs. But Trump is more favorable to right-wing audiences in international politics, and supporters of right-wing populist parties are more inclined to support his main policies. For example, 67 percent of France respondents who have a positive view of the National Rally party support Trump's immigration policies, but only 22 percent of those who dislike the National Rally party hold the same position. However, of all the major Trump policies listed in the 2019 survey, tariffs and fees on imported goods were the most opposed by respondents.
During this period, as tensions between China and the United States intensified and the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, positive assessments of China also declined, albeit to a lesser extent. Nearly half of the Western European countries surveyed by Pew in 2019 (Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) saw a double-digit decline in positive views of China, but respondents in the Global South still viewed China in a mostly positive way. In Japan, 85% of respondents said they had a negative view of China, the most negative of all the countries surveyed, while Russians had the most positive view. In 2020, most people had a negative view of both China and United States.
Pew's 2020 Global Attitudes Survey shows countries around the world are more unhappy with United States' response to the coronavirus pandemic. During the pandemic, United States' reputation among key allies and partners declined further, with only 31% of France in 2020 having a positive opinion of United States and only 26% of Germans having a positive opinion of United States. Of the 13 countries surveyed that year, only 15 percent of respondents said United States did well in its first year of responding to the pandemic, compared with 37 percent in China. In line with Trump's approval ratings, the political right is more inclined to approve of United States' response to COVID-19.
Biden Administration (2021-2024)
After the change of leadership in United States in 2021, the survey showed that the international community's confidence in the United States president was immediately restored. While it's important to note that Pew's 2021 survey included only high-income countries from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Trump and Biden differed by at least 40 percentage points in confidence across all 12 countries for which data were available between 2020 and 2021. In 12 countries, 77 percent of respondents believe Biden is qualified for president, compared with 16 percent who see Trump that way. The Biden administration's proposal to organize a summit of democracies in the 16 OECD countries surveyed by Pew received a high approval rating of 85 percent, but a majority of respondents in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom and Netherlands remain skeptical about the health of the United States political system. In addition, most people support some of Biden's major international policy decisions, including his plan to allow more refugees into the United States (76%), and his decision to rejoin the World Health Organization (89%) and the Paris climate agreement (85%). When the United States under Biden returned to the world stage in a multilateral role, their favorability toward United States also nearly doubled from 34% in 2020 to 62% in 2021. Support in France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Netherlands and Canada increased by 25 percentage points or more.
▲Changes in the favorability of United States in some countries
At the same time, in New Zealand, Australia and Japan, most people believe that "promoting human rights development in Chinese" is more important, even if doing so will damage their economic relationship with China; In Korea and Singapore, most people prioritize strengthening economic ties with China. In 2021, respondents rated China's response to the pandemic higher than in United States.
From 2021 to 2022, 13 out of 14 countries surveyed saw a double-digit drop in the percentage of respondents who were confident that Biden is doing the right thing in international affairs. In the spring of 2022, 56 percent of respondents believed that the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan had been handled inappropriately, although 52 percent believed it was the right decision. In Italy, Greece, Spain and Singapore, half or more have little confidence in Biden's ability to handle world affairs. In high-income countries, especially European countries such as Poland and Sweden, the difference is much larger. Moreover, in 2022, most people in most countries surveyed still have a favorable opinion of United States, while less than a third have a favorable opinion of China. The largest gap is in Korea (70 percentage points), followed by Japan (58 percentage points) and Australia (40 percentage points). Notably, the Chinese government is doing well in Southeast Asia, with Malaysia and Singapore (both 16 percentage points) favoring China higher than United States.
Overall confidence in Biden has remained relatively stable in 2023, with some United States allies such as United Kingdom, Canada and Korea declining slightly, while others such as Japan, Australia and Israel have risen. Most international respondents still believe that United States contributes to global peace and stability, although a vast majority also believe that United States "interferes in the affairs of other countries." Nearly half of respondents believe United States' foreign policy cares about the interests of other countries — a figure that's higher than the highest level in two decades in about half of the countries surveyed.
Pew's latest poll in the spring of 2024 shows that the situation in the United States is even more dire. Confidence in the United States president fell sharply in several countries, including Australia, United Kingdom, Japan and Israel, by double digits, while Italy, Korea, Mexico and Canada saw single-digit declines. about