Gallup: Biden’s Worldwide Approval Dropping

International approval of U.S. leadership has dropped in President Joe Biden’s second year in office, but the United States is still polling far ahead when it comes to world leaders, a new Gallup poll of 137 countries and territories reveals. 

The survey was conducted in mid-to-late 2022, coming after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. It shows that the median approval of U.S. leadership dropped from 41% to 39% in Europe during Biden’s second year, and from 52% to 36% in the Americas. 

U.S. leadership marked high numbers in Kosovo (90%), Poland (80%), Nigeria (78%), Israel (65%), and the Philippines (62%), but was unpopular in Russia (4%), Iran (8%), and the Palestinian territories (13%).

However, Russian leadership fell almost everywhere, except for remaining high in some African countries, including the West African nation of Mali, where the Russian mercenary Wagner group has a presence. There, the approval of the Russian government was at a high mark of 90%. 

Germany, meanwhile, was deemed the least polarizing, with approval dropping from 2021 but still tending to have a disapproval rate that was less than the rate for the United States. 

In other numbers:

• China polled ahead of the United States in just a few countries, including Russia. The country scored a median approval rate of just 16% in Europe and 23% in the Americas. 
• Approval of both U.S. leadership, at 59%, and Chinese, at 52% came from sub-Saharan Africa. 
• Asia had a mixed response. China’s numbers polled far ahead in Pakistan and Iran, but approval of the U.S. government came in higher from India.