What the World Thinks of Trump's 2nd Term
What Does the Rest of the World
Actually Think of Trump's 2nd Term?
Spoiler: It's not great. But it's more complicated than you think — and the numbers might surprise you.
America re-elected Donald Trump in November 2024. The world watched. And then, over the following fourteen months, it watched the U.S. start wars in Venezuela, Iran, Syria, and Yemen — impose sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike — and withdraw from the WHO, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the UN Human Rights Council. So how does the rest of the planet actually feel about all of it? The polling data tells a nuanced story.
The Numbers First
Region by Region
The "President of Peace" Problem
Trump ran in 2024 promising he was the only candidate who could end wars rather than start them. "I'm not going to start wars, I'm going to stop wars," he said in his victory speech. Fourteen months later, he has authorized the use of military force in seven countries during his second term alone: Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Iraq.
A CBS poll taken three days before the Iran strikes showed 51% of Americans supported military action to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. But the Marist Poll from January 2026 found that 57% of Americans opposed military action in Iran. The shift happened fast — and internationally, it happened even faster.
"America's standing in the world is undergoing change, and brands are being caught in the crossfire."
— Ipsos, One Year Into the Trump 2.0 Era, January 2026The Partisan Split at Home
Perhaps the most revealing number isn't about foreign opinion at all. 90% of Democrats say Trump has weakened the U.S. role on the world stage. 89% of Republicans say he's strengthened it. Two groups of Americans are living in entirely different realities about their country's place in the world — and the November midterms will, in part, be a referendum on which version is true.
Meanwhile, only 2 in 5 Americans believe the U.S. is currently fulfilling its role as a moral world leader — down sharply from 2017. The rest of the world, for better or worse, seems to agree.
The Bottom Line
The world isn't uniformly horrified by Trump's second term — it's fractured. Europe is alarmed. Canada is cold. Middle powers are quietly expanding into the vacuum. Allies in Israel and a handful of right-wing European governments are enthusiastic. And the United States itself is more divided about its own foreign policy than at almost any point in modern history. Whatever Trump's second term means for America, it has already fundamentally changed how the world thinks about American leadership.
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