Confidence in the capabilities and performance of the United States has drastically decreased. What is behind such a shift?
Over the course of Trump’s second presidential term, international trust in US leadership and ability to keep global stability has markedly dropped. A comprehensive YouGov survey released in February found that opinion towards the USA is the lowest since 2016, with views having “become even more negative as a result of the Greenland crisis.” (It is vital to note that the crisis was still recent at the time of this poll, and that the Iran war had not yet begun.) The poll notes that “84% of Danes now have an unfavourable view of the USA, up from 70% in November 2025 (and compared to an average of 36% over Joe Biden’s term as president).”
In addition to this, Europeans are “increasingly of the belief that it is no longer a friendly nation, with the number seeing America as either a friend and ally, or at least a friendly rival, having fallen significantly since we last asked in 2023. Nowhere is this more clear than in Denmark, with only 26% of Danes seeing the US as an ally or friendly nation, compared to fully 80% in July 2023. Fewer than half in Spain (39%), Germany (41%) and Britain (46%) continue to see America as friendly or an ally, with slightly more than half saying the same in Italy (52%) and France (53%).” The exceedingly negative trends can be explained by a mixture of factors, primarily the newfound unpredictability of America on the world stage and the profound unpopularity of Trump’s combination of isolationism and interventionism.
Clearly, European opinions of the United States have absolutely cratered, something that sees corroboration in other polls. Gallup found in 2025 that approval and disapproval of American and Chinese leadership have moved in opposite directions globally: US approval has dropped and disapproval risen, while Chinese approval has risen and disapproval dropped. According to the poll, disapproval of US leadership has reached a record high of 48%, with Chinese disapproval dropping to 37%. Meanwhile, approval of American leadership dropped to 31%, and Chinese rose to 36%. Shockingly, Russian approval has risen as America’s has fallen, increasing 5% since 2022 up to 36%.
The Guardian reported on a European Council of Foreign Relations survey as well, which found that “Most Europeans no longer see the US as a reliable ally and are increasingly supportive of rearmament…,” and “The poll… found majorities in almost every territory surveyed expected China’s global influence to grow over the next decade.” “The authors said the poll revealed ‘a world in which US actions were boosting China’, adding that Trump’s intervention in Venezuela and territorial ambitions in Greenland suggested ‘he has decided it is better for a great power to be feared than to be loved’.” Perhaps the best summation is that “Europeans see the old order is over.” A new world seems to be taking shape in the wake of global realignment, primarily caused by Trump’s actions, and we are yet to see what will come of them.