Comparing how Americans and others around the world view the United States’ global role

A Pew Research Center survey of 36 countries finds that global publics hold largely negative views of U.S. foreign policy, while Americans themselves are split along partisan lines, according to a report released Monday [1]. Across the 36 non-U.S. countries surveyed between February and May 2026, a median of 35% of adults say the United States contributes to global peace and stability, while 63% say it does not [1]. In several European nations, the figures are even lower: roughly a quarter or fewer in France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden hold that view, as do 20% in Argentina [1]. By contrast, majorities in Israel, Kenya, Nigeria, and the Philippines say the U.S. does contribute to stability [1]. The survey also found that in many countries, the share of people who believe the U.S. contributes to stability has fallen since the question was last asked in 2023; in Sweden, it dropped from 64% to 23% [1]. On the question of whether the U.S. takes other countries' interests into account when making foreign policy, a median of 32% across the 36 non-U.S. countries say it does [1]. In France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, roughly one-in-ten hold that view [1]. The Pew Research Center conducted the survey among 42,151 adults in 36 countries, with additional interviews of 3,507 U.S. adults in March 2026 [1]. American respondents diverged sharply from international opinion and from each other. Overall, 57% of Americans say the U.S. contributes to global peace and stability, but that figure masks a wide partisan gap: 82% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents hold that view, compared with 35% of Democrats and Democratic leaners [1]. Similarly, 46% of Americans think the U.S. takes other countries' interests into account, including 70% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats [1]. The survey also measured perceptions of whether the U.S. government respects the personal freedoms of its own people. A median of 39% of adults in the 36 non-U.S. countries say it does, while 56% say it does not [1]. In nearly all countries where the question was also asked in 2021, at the start of the Biden administration, the share saying the U.S. respects its people's freedoms has decreased by double digits [1]. Among Americans, 57% say the government respects personal freedoms, with 79% of Republicans and 38% of Democrats agreeing [1]. The findings arrive amid broader assessments of U.S. democratic health. The V-Dem Institute's 2026 democracy report classified the United States as an "electoral democracy" for the first time in over 50 years, stripping it of its status as a liberal democracy [3]. The Polity data series, which downgraded the U.S. to an "anocracy" after the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, described the country by October 2025 as "no longer [...] a democracy" and lying "at the cusp of autocracy" [3]. Bright Line Watch made similar statements in September 2025, describing expert ratings as "closer to those of a mixed or illiberal democracy than a full democracy" [3].