Denmark Releases Results of International Opinion Survey
China Sees Improvement in Reputation
A recent survey has found that the United States' international reputation has declined significantly following the return of Donald Trump as President. The reputation score for the U.S., long seen as a symbol of democracy and global leadership, has fallen below that of its rival China in just one year.
According to Yonhap News Agency on May 13, citing results commissioned by the Alliance of Democracies (AoD), a Danish non-profit organization, and conducted by the polling firm Nira Data, the survey measured the reputation of democracy in 100 countries worldwide last month, presenting the results as a percentage index ranging from -100% to +100%.
Respondents were asked whether they believed each country had a positive impact on democracy, human rights, and international cooperation. The scores were calculated based on the overall perception of each country.
According to the findings, the U.S. received a global reputation index of '-5%'. This means that negative evaluations outweighed positive ones. Compared to last year's score of +22%, this represents a sharp drop of 27 percentage points. The U.S. fell out of the top 30 and was the only G7 country to record a negative score.
The U.S. democracy reputation index (DPI) compiled by AoD was similar to that of Russia (-9%), which has been at war with Ukraine for three years, and was also comparable to Argentina (-1%), Iraq (-10%), and Hungary (-10%).
Notably, the U.S. score was lower than that of China (+14%) this year. While China's score rose by 9 percentage points compared to last year, the U.S. experienced a significant decline.
South Korea's reputation index in this survey was +15%. The method used to calculate South Korea's score was not disclosed. Among major countries, Switzerland had the highest reputation index (+48%), followed by Singapore (+46%), Qatar (+40%), Canada (+40%), and Jordan (+39%). The countries with the lowest scores were Iran (-25%), Israel (-23%), and Belarus (-21%).
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, founder of AoD and former Secretary General of NATO and Prime Minister of Denmark, identified President Trump as the cause of the U.S. reputation decline. According to foreign media, Rasmussen criticized Trump, stating, "Trump triggered a trade war, scolded (Volodymyr Zelensky) the President of Ukraine in the White House, weakened alliances, and emboldened adversaries."
Meanwhile, the polling firm stated that the survey was conducted from April 9 to 23, targeting 111,273 people in 100 countries, asking for their opinions about neighboring countries.
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