Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

International Views of Biden and U.S. Largely Positive

2. Confidence in Biden to handle world affairs

On balance, Biden gets positive reviews on the survey, although there are notable differences across countries. A median of 54% say they trust Biden to do the right thing in international affairs and 39% say they do not.

Chart shows many trust Biden in world affairs

As with views of the U.S., Poland and Hungary stand out for their stark disagreement about the U.S. president, representing the highest and lowest ratings in the survey, respectively. More than eight-in-ten Poles have confidence in Biden when it comes to international affairs. Just 19% of Hungarians agree. And while the share who have confidence in the U.S. president is at an all-time high in Poland, it is at a record low in Hungary, dropping 12 percentage points since 2022.

Hungary is not the only NATO ally with limited trust in Biden. Roughly half or more in Spain, France, Greece and Italy – all NATO member states – say they do not have confidence in Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs.

Ratings of Biden have not changed much since last year in most of the other countries surveyed, with a few exceptions. Israelis offer a somewhat more positive rating of the U.S. president now compared with 2022. But fewer people in France and South Korea trust Biden now compared with the previous year.

In the countries that we have not surveyed since 2019, this is the first measure of confidence in Biden as the president. In each country, current ratings for Biden are higher than those for Trump, but lower than their peak during Obama’s presidency.

Chart shows Confidence in the U.S. president

In Mexico, for example, ratings of the U.S. president were highest in the first year of Obama’s presidency, when 55% of Mexicans had confidence in him. But ratings plummeted to a record low of only 5% when Trump took office. Now, 43% of Mexicans have confidence in Biden: Fewer than half, but a much larger share than during Trump’s presidency.

This overall pattern matches the data we see in many other countries we survey. Notably, confidence in Biden in world affairs decreased in many places after his first year in office, but remains higher than Trump’s highest confidence rating in every country except Hungary and Israel.

Adults ages 40 and older have more confidence in Biden’s handling of world affairs than adults under 40 in Germany, Greece, Canada, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

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