U.S. Leadership Falls Further Behind China In Global Regard, Gallup Poll Finds (Source npr.org)

Worldwide approval of U.S. leadership remains low but relatively stable after a dramatic drop during President Trump’s first year in office, while China’s rating ticked up to its highest in almost a decade, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.

The report, which measures how adults in 133 countries feel about the global leadership of the U.S., China, Germany and Russia, shows that U.S. leadership earned a median 31 percent approval rating in 2018, a slight uptick from 30 percent the year before. Positive international perception of both Chinese and Russian leadership continues to strengthen, according to the report, while Germany, which leads in the rankings, fell just below a 40 percent approval rating for the first time in more than a decade.

The low approval rating for the U.S. “suggests that the doubts sowed in Trump’s first year about U.S. commitments abroad have taken root,” the Gallup report reads. “In this climate, China’s leadership has gained a larger advantage in the ‘great power competition,’ and the other player, Russia, is now on a more even level with the U.S.”