After 100 days in office, U.S. President Donald Trump and his “America First” agenda have run into major trouble.
In February and April of this year, CGTN conducted two global opinion polls involving 15,947 respondents across 38 countries. The survey found that American respondents’ satisfaction with Trump’s performance has declined rapidly. The “America First” foreign policy approach has left respondents from both traditional U.S. allies and Global South countries pessimistic about the future of their relations with the United States. The new U.S. administration is facing a severe global trust crisis.
Data shows that 48.9 percent of American respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the new administration. Among them, 53.1 percent of American respondents criticized the “reciprocal tariffs” policy for severely impacting the U.S. stock market. Another 60.4 percent believe that the domestic economic policies not only failed to control inflation but also led to rising prices, and 54 percent strongly questioned its interest rate policy.
Looking at American respondents’ views on the short-term economy and national development, the proportion of pessimistic respondents is higher than that of optimistic ones; 43.1 percent of respondents believe that the U.S. economy could worsen in the next three months, and 47.5 percent think that the U.S. is headed in the “wrong direction.” Pessimism is even more pronounced among Democratic respondents, with 62.3 percent expressing deep concern about the future of the U.S.
“America First” has made the world pay the price, severely damaging the trust and confidence of its traditional allies. Data shows that respondents from several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia, expressed deep concern about their relations with the United States.
Among them, Australian respondents showed the most significant shift, with 65.5 percent feeling pessimistic about the future of U.S.-Australia relations, a sharp increase of 24.5 percentage points compared to the previous poll. Similarly, 55 percent of Italian respondents expressed pessimism about future U.S.-Italy relations, up by 21.5 percentage points from an earlier poll. In France, Germany, Canada, Japan, and South Korea, more than 70 percent of respondents also reported a pessimistic outlook on the development of their relations with the United States.
The respondents also generally believe that the “America First” policy has led the United States to further neglect its traditional allies. Eighty-seven percent of South Korean respondents agreed with this view. In the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Italy, more than 70 percent of respondents also expressed agreement. The proportion of respondents holding this view in Italy and Germany showed a significant increase compared to the previous poll, rising by 17 and 15 percentage points, respectively.
It is not just developed countries; respondents from the Global South are also seeing a sharp decline in confidence in their relations with the U.S. Among the 23 Global South countries surveyed, respondents in 19 countries, accounting for 82.6 percent of the surveyed countries, expressed pessimism about the future of their relations with the U.S.
Compared to the previous poll, respondents from South Africa, Egypt, Peru, Indonesia, and Malaysia showed the most significant decline in confidence, each dropping by more than 20 percentage points. Confidence in future relations with the U.S. declined by more than 10 percentage points among respondents from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Chile, Ghana, Mexico, and Thailand.
The surveys were conducted by CGTN in collaboration with Renmin University of China through the Institute of International Communication in the New Era and covered 15,947 respondents across 38 countries. The respondents included individuals from developed countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan, as well as from developing countries, such as Mexico, South Africa, and Malaysia.
