Countries around the world view the U.S response to the coronavirus particularly poorly, contributing to a sharp decline to the country’s overall favourability, a study from the Pew Research Centre released on Tuesday.
The study reviewed attitudes towards the U.S among people in more than a dozen key industrialized democracies, all allies of Washington.
In France and Germany, those who have a favourable view of the US had dropped to the record lows matched only back in 2003, at the height of tensions over the invasion of Iraq.
Britain, Japan, Canada and Australia never saw their negative views hit such high levels before.
Over the 13 countries surveyed, only 15 per cent of people, on average, had a positive opinion of how the U.S handled the coronavirus.
Often, people thought China, European nations and the World Health Organisation did far better than the U.S
“The percentage of those who have confidence in the U.S president to do the right thing regarding world affairs has dropped to levels not seen since the end of the George W Bush presidency” the Pew study showed.
Only about 10 per cent of the Germans and French believe President Donald Trump would do the right thing on the global stage.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel ranks highest among world leaders, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump trails even Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s leader Xi Jinping in terms of trust.
Confidence in Trump among Europeans is highest among those who support populist right-wing parties.
