- Citizens of NATO countries have much more positive views of Joe Biden than Donald Trump.
- That’s one of the key findings from the latest Gallup global polling on views of the US.
- 20 out of the 27 NATO nations gave America a double-digit bump in post-Trump approval ratings.
Citizens of NATO member countries have much more positive views of America now that President Joe Biden is in charge, according to a raft of global surveys released Tuesday morning.
Gallup’s world leadership survey, which was conducted before the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, illustrates just how much Europe and other countries soured on the US as Trump labeled the Western alliance “obsolete,” slapped US allies with tariffs, and furthered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of destabilizing global democracy.
According to Gallup’s polling, 20 out of the 27 NATO nations gave America a double-digit bump in post-Trump approval ratings. The largest increase came from Portugal where views of the US shot up 52-percentage points (64% overall approving rating). Significant bumps also occurred in the Netherlands with 45-points (63%); Norway with 42-points; and Canada with 38-points (55%). Lithuania was the only NATO nation where views of the US dropped at all, down 6-points (22%).
The polling suggests that despite Biden’s currently weak domestic approval, he is succeeding in his goal of restoring America’s role as a global leader post-Trump, and was able to bring NATO together ahead of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump sparked controversy when he called NATO “obsolete.” Trump continued to criticize NATO throughout his presidency and frequently made misleading claims about how it was funded, alienating key allies in the process. At times, Trump’s fierce and unorthodox criticism of NATO raised fears that he would move to pull the US from the alliance altogether.
In recent months, particularly in relation to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Trump has sought to take credit for increases in defense spending by NATO members. “I hope everyone is able to remember that it was me, as President of the United States, that got delinquent NATO members to start paying their dues, which amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said in a misleading statement in late February.
Despite Trump’s claims, NATO members began raising defense spending before he was in office. “Since 2014, all Allies in Europe and Canada have increased defense spending every year. And they have, in total, added 270 billion extra for defense,” NATO Secretary…
Read More: US Approval in Most NATO Countries up by Double-Digits Under Biden Compared to Trump