Aussies have little confidence in Trump

Russians have a more favourable opinion of the US since Donald Trump took office but Australians have lost faith since his election.

US President Donald Trump

File image of US President Donald Trump (AAP) Source: AAP

Australians have little confidence in US President Donald Trump and worldwide he is viewed as arrogant, intolerant and dangerous, according to a new US study.

The Washington DC-based Pew Research Center surveyed 37 nations and just 22 per cent of respondents were confident Trump "will do the right thing when it comes to international affairs".

That compares to 64 per cent expressing confidence in Barack Obama in the final years of his presidency.

"Although he has only been in office a few months, Donald Trump's presidency has had a major impact on how the world sees the United States," Pew's survey states.

"Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the US have declined steeply in many nations."

Just 29 per cent of Australians have confidence in Trump, but the number was higher than other nations including key US allies and neighbours.

Just five per cent of Mexicans, seven per cent of Spaniards, 11 per cent of Germans, 22 per cent of Brits, 22 per cent of Canadians and 24 per cent of Japanese said they had confidence in the president.

In the final years of Obama's presidency Australians had 84 per cent confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs and Mexicans (49 per cent), Spaniards (75 per cent), Germans (86 per cent), Brits (79 per cent), Canadians (83 per cent) and Japanese (78 per cent) were also more bullish on the former president.

Going against the trend, favourability ratings in Russia and Vietnam for the US have gone up since Trump took office.

Survey respondents were read a list of positive and negative characteristics and asked whether they described Trump.

"Most say he is arrogant, intolerant and dangerous, while few think of him as well-qualified or as someone who cares about ordinary people," Pew reported.

"Describing Trump as charismatic is more common, although global publics on balance do not think of him as charismatic either.

"They do, however, see Trump as a strong leader."


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2 min read
Published 28 June 2017 6:54am
Source: AAP


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