President Donald Trump is generally viewed more negatively than other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In a new poll from the Pew Research Center, 83 percent of participants said they have no confidence in Trump on world affairs. Only 16 percent said they had confidence in him to do the right thing when it comes to international relationships.
Out of the six leaders included in the survey, Trump received the lowest score, followed by Xi, with 78 percent of participants expressing no confidence in him on world affairs, and Putin, with 73 percent.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the highest marks, with 76 percent of participants expressing confidence in her on world affairs. French President Emmanuel Macron also received fairly positive views.
The mixed reviews for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were almost evenly split.
The emphasis on world affairs comes as nations struggle to present a collective global front against the coronavirus pandemic this year. The majority of participants surveyed in the 14 nations said the impact of COVID-19 could have been mitigated in their own countries with greater international cooperation.
In the U.S., 58 percent of adults said if the country had cooperated more with other nations, there would have been a lower number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. The same majority of Americans said the country should take the interests of other countries into account even if it means making compromises.
It is not only within the U.S. that people overwhelmingly view Trump's response to the pandemic negatively. Among the 13 other countries, the U.S. received a median approval rating of 15 percent.
In comparison, nearly three-quarters of adults say their own country has done a good job of dealing with the outbreak. More than half of respondents favorably viewed the responses of the World Health Organization and the European Union.
China also received lower marks, with a 13-country median of 37 percent, but the score is still more than double that of the U.S. The negative views of China, where COVID-19 was first discovered in late 2019, are most stark in the U.S.
As views of China have continued to crumble among Americans, around eight in 10 say the Chinese government's initial handling of the virus is to blame for the outbreak's global spread.
Half of Americans said that the U.S. should hold China responsible for the role it played in the pandemic, even if it means worsening relations with the country. However, nearly 40 percent said the U.S. should be prioritizing strong relations with China, even if it means overlooking China's role in the outbreak.
Although tensions between the U.S. and China continue to intensify, people in other nations name China as the world's leading economic power.
Of the countries surveyed, 48 percent selected China while 34 percent named the U.S. The U.S. was the most common choice among adults in South Korea and Japan, the countries closest to China, but China was the most common choice among European nations and Canada.
The poll also found that 78 percent of Americans think the spread of infectious diseases is the greatest threat to the U.S. Adults in the U.K., Japan and South Korea also agree that it's a top concern. However, many Europeans see global climate change as the main threat, despite COVID-19.
