Canadians' view of U.S. deteriorated under Trump: global survey

Canadians’ views of their southern neighbour and their confidence in the U.S. president are at a 15-year low, according to a major new survey of public attitudes in 37 countries.

According to results of the Pew Research Center survey, just 43 per cent of Canadians now have a positive view of the United States. That’s the lowest figure since 2002, when 72 per cent of Canadians viewed America favourably.

Only 22 per cent of Canadians said they have confidence in U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership on the world stage. At the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, he had the confidence of 83 per cent of Canadians. At that time, 65 per cent of Canadians also had a positive view of the U.S.

“We saw a pretty big drop in ratings for the U.S. president over the last two years,” Jacob Poushter of the Pew Research Center told CTV’s Power Play on Tuesday.

Pew’s previous surveys show that Canadians’ confidence in the U.S. president jumped to 88 per cent at the beginning of Obama’s presidency in 2009, from a low of 28 per cent near the end of George W. Bush’s last term in office.

The latest survey results showed that more positive views of the U.S. were expressed by Canadians on the political right. The U.S. is also seen more favourably by Canadian men (52 per cent) than women (35 per cent).

The survey of Canadians’ attitudes also found that 93 per cent think Trump is “arrogant,” 78 per cent say he’s “intolerant” and 72 per cent called him “dangerous.”  Still, 38 per cent said he’s a “strong leader” and 37 per cent think he’s “charistmatic,” although only 16 per cent think he’s well-qualified to be president.

“For the most part, people across the world don’t like most of Trump’s proposed policies,” Poushter said.

That includes many Canadians. The survey found that:

Among other survey highlights:

The global survey also found that slightly more Europeans have a negative view of the U.S. under Trump. Across France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the U.K., a median of 61 per cent of people held a positive opinion of the U.S, compared with 26 per cent who had a negative opinion.

Meanwhile in Mexico, confidence in Trump sits at just five per cent, the lowest rating of any U.S. leader since Pew began surveying people there. Only 30 per cent of Mexicans had a positive view of their northern neighbour.

Across the 37 nations polled, Trump gets higher marks than Obama in only two countries: Russia and Israel.

The survey results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted among 40,447 respondents in 37 countries in all regions of the world between Feb. 16 and May 8.

With files from The Associated Press