Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

The Graphic Truth: Global approval for US leadership declines

The Graphic Truth: Global approval for US leadership declines

Global approval for US leadership has dropped since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 — but not equally across regions, according to an annual Gallup survey. The decline has been steeper in the Americas, Asia and Europe than in Africa, where approval for US leadership has dipped slightly under Trump but not as much as over the last seven years of the Obama administration. One reason that could explain the diversion is that Africa is rarely on Trump's radar, giving the US president less opportunity to make deeply polarizing statements about countries there, compared to other regions where he regularly antagonizes individual countries and their leaders. We compare the average US global leadership approval rates across world regions for the last ten years.

More For You

​An explosion in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in this still image from a social media video released on March 5, 2026.

An explosion in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in this still image from a social media video released on March 5, 2026.

Social Media/via REUTERS
Iran conflict hits new frontsTwo Iranian drones hit Azerbaijan, Iran’s northern neighbor, on Thursday, injuring four people and expanding the Iran conflict onto another front. The Azeris, who have a tense relationship with the Islamic Republic over their growing ties to NATO countries, have reportedly deployed troops to the Iranian border, which [...]
​Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez and US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 4, 2026.

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez and US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum walk together to deliver a statement, in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 4, 2026.

REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
1,000: The maximum amount of gold, in kilograms, that Venezuela’s state-owned mining firm Minerven will send to US markets, in a deal reportedly reached between Washington and Caracas on Monday. It is the latest sign of growing commercial ties between the Trump administration and interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez, only two months on from [...]
​People attend the funeral of a person who was killed in alleged Pakistani airstrikes, in the Ghani Khel district of Nangarhar province.

People attend the funeral of a person who was killed in alleged Pakistani airstrikes, in the Ghani Khel district of Nangarhar province.

While Iran fights in a new war against Israel and the United States, its neighbors to the east have been drawn into a conflict of their own. Growing violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan has escalated into “open war,” according to Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif. The United Nations says nearly 66,000 people have been [...]
​Women prepare a makeshift memorial in tribute to Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a street, after he was killed in Israeli and U.S. strikes on Saturday, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026.

Women prepare a makeshift memorial in tribute to Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a street, after he was killed in Israeli and U.S. strikes on Saturday, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026.

Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Over the weekend, the United States and Israel pulled off one of the most operationally impressive military campaigns in recent memory. In the span of 48 hours, they killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, decapitated much of the country's political and military leadership, destroyed its air defenses, decimated its naval assets, and [...]