Germany top-rated global power for 3rd straight year
Timothy Jones
July 27, 2020
Germany has retained and even enhanced its image as the favorite global power in 2019, an annual Gallup poll shows. The US, China and Russia are all vying for a distant second place in global leadership approval.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
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Germany maintained its position as the most highly rated country in the world for a third year running in 2019, while the US approval ratings stayed well below those achieved under the last administration, according to a global leadership poll conducted by Gallup.
With a 44% approval rating, Germany outstripped the US by 11%, with disapproval of the current US leadership most marked in Europe.
As the poll was conducted before the coronavirus pandemic struck, ratings for the US might fall even further as the world watches Washingon's failure to come to grips with the outbreak.
During the previous administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, the US held the status of the most respected country in the world except in 2011, when it dipped just under Germany in the ratings. When Donald Trump took the presidency, however, the country's approval ratings took a nosedive, falling 18 percentage points to an all-time low of 30%.
The US's approval rating across 135 countries moved up very slightly in 2019 to 33%, but that is still one percentage point lower than the previous nadir of 34% under former President George W. Bush in 2008.
The disapproval of US leadership is strongest in Europe, where a record 61% of people are disenchanted with the current administration. Just three countries on the continent gave majority approval to the US: Kosovo, Albania and Poland.
Australians also appear to have grave doubts about US leadership, with 67% of respondents registering disapproval.
In Africa, the situation was slightly more positive with regard to Washington's image, but the 52% approval rating there also marks a large fall from the 85% in 2009, just after Obama's election.
China and Russia were just behind the US in the poll on 32% and 30% respectively. China had been just ahead of the US in 2018 with an approval rating of 34%.
Donald Trump on Germany: Top quotes
The US president has offered praise and dished out criticism of Germany. Whether describing the chancellor as "the greatest" or claiming Berlin owes "vast sums of money" to the US, here are his most memorable quotes.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/C. May
The good, the bad and the ugly
US President Donald Trump has offered both candid praise and unabashed criticism of Germany and its policies. From calling German Chancellor Angela Merkel "possibly the greatest world leader" to describing her open-door refugee policy as a "catastrophic mistake," here are his most memorable quotes regarding Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/C. May
'Greatest'
"Germany's like sitting back silent, collecting money and making a fortune with probably the greatest leader in the world today, Merkel," Trump said in a 2015 interview with US news magazine Time.
Image: Picture alliance/AP Photo/M. Schreiber
'Very bad'
"The Germans are bad, very bad ... Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US. Terrible. We'll stop that," Trump said during a NATO leaders summit, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel, which cited sources at the alliance's meeting.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP/E. Vucci
'Something in common'
"As far as wiretapping, I guess, by - you know - [the Obama] administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps," Trump said in March during a press conference with Merkel. He was referring to his unproven allegations that ex-President Barack Obama tapped his phone. There was widespread anger in Germany in 2013 when it was revealed the US National Security Agency tapped Merkel's phone.
Image: Picture alliance/R. Sachs/CNP
'Illegals'
"I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals (sic), you know taking all of the people from wherever they come from," Trump said in a joint interview published by German daily Bild and British newspaper The Times, referring to Merkel's open-door policy for refugees fleeing war and persecution.
Image: Getty Images/S. Gallup
'Germany owes vast sums of money'
"Despite what you have heard from the fake news, I had a great meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO and the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany," Trump said in a two-tweet statement after meeting with Merkel for the first time in March 2017.
Image: Picture alliance/dpa/L. Mirgeler
'Turning their backs'
"The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition," Trump tweeted in the midst of a row within the German goverment. He went on to claim that: "Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!"
