The new poll, released by the Pew Research Center Tuesday, shows that Europeans already feel better about their nations’ ties with the U.S. with Trump having been defeated and hope Biden’s presidency will foster closer transatlantic ties.
But the survey also reveals deep skepticism over the condition of the “Great American Experiment,” with many worried about the future of the nation if it does not undertake major political reforms in the coming years.
The Pew poll surveyed 3,066 adults in France, Germany and the U.K. by telephone between November 12 and December 23, 2020.
The survey population was nationally represented and was augmented by additional data from a survey of 1,003 adults in the U.S. from November 10 to December 7, 2020.
Biden’s election is a moment of hope for most European respondents.
Trump has always been deeply unpopular on the continent, apart from among a small minority of right-wing voters and right-wing politicians hoping to benefit from American largesse or association with the populist leader.
The president did not help his cause by repeatedly maligning European leaders and dismissing the European Union as “worse than China, only smaller.”
Large majorities in Germany (79 percent), France (72 percent) and the U.K. (65 percent) told Pew they are confident Biden will do “the right thing” on the world stage.
This marks a huge departure from answers given in 2020, when only 10 percent of German respondents, 11 percent of French respondents, and 19 percent of British respondents said the same of Trump.
Biden has vowed to revive multilateralism and work closely with American allies, in contrast to the unilateral “America First” approach of Trump’s administration, whose members lauded their own success in breaking out of diplomatic conventions.
Biden’s approach appears welcome in Europe, and most of those surveyed said they are optimistic about their country’s future ties with Washington, D.C.
Eighty-four percent of Germans and French and 72 percent of Britons believe cross-Atlantic ties will improve in the coming four years. Seventy-three percent of Americans feel the same way.
A majority in all three nations believe Biden will perform better than Trump in combating climate change, facing the coronavirus pandemic, and handling a difficult era of foreign policy.
But Trump’s term has left scars, both among American voters and their allies. The president’s tumultuous term has convinced many Europeans that America’s political system is in dire need of reform, even before the storming of the Capitol by a far-right pro-Trump mob seeking to overturn the election results earlier this month.
Fifty-percent of French respondents now hold a favorable view of the U.S.—up 19 points on last year—while 51 percent of Britons feel the same—up 10 points from last year.
There is a less rosy picture in Germany, where a minority of 40 percent now see the U.S. in a positive light, up 14 percent on last year’s poll.
Widespread political reform in America appears to be the desired antidote in these three nations.
Seventy-three percent of Germans said the political system needs to be subject to either major changes or completely reformed, along with sixty-four percent of French and 62 percent of Britons.
