Mexicans' Confidence in U.S. Plummets As Trump Admin Ramps Up Immigration Enforcement Policies: Poll

The Trump administration's standing in the international scene is seeing a shift as it adopt a plethora of policies that have been criticized by allies, from immigration enforcement operations to its intention to annex Greenland and take back the Panama Canal. This has lead to a significant decrease in confidence in the country, a new survey reveals.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that 19 out of 24 nations polled have little confidence in the U.S. More than half of these 19 countries say they lack confidence in Trump's leadership in world affairs. The poll surveyed 28,333 people in 24 countries, not including the U.S., from Jan. 8 to April 26, 2025.

In Canada and Mexico, the U.S.' two immediate neighbors and ones that President Donald Trump has heavily focused on during the first months of his administration, 77% and 91% of the population respectively have no confidence that the president will do the "right thing" regarding world affairs.

Other countries with similar proportions are Sweden (85%), Germany (81%), Spain (80%), France (78%), and Turkey (80%).

Majorities in most countries also express little or no confidence in Trump's ability to handle specific issues, including immigration, the Russia-Ukraine war, U.S.-China relations, global economic problems, conflicts between Israel and its neighbors, and climate change.

Similarly, when asked about Trump's personal characteristics, most describe him as arrogant and dangerous, while relatively few see him as honest. Still, majorities in 18 countries consider Trump a strong leader.

Looking at the broader picture, U.S. ratings have also dramatically declined in 15 nations since last spring, including drops of 20 percentage points or more in some of them.

One of the most dramatic declines can be seen in Mexico, which has been targeted by the administration on immigration enforcement on its nationals in the U.S., drug trafficking and tariffs. In 2024, 61% of the Mexican population had a favorable opinion of the U.S. This year, however, only 29% say the same, signaling a 32 percentage point change.

A similar case can be seen in Canada, where last year, over half of its population (54%) had a favorable opinion of the U.S., while this year, only 34% say the same, showing a 20 percentage point decrease.

Other countries with a large gap in its ratings include Sweden (28 point change), Poland (22 point change), Netherlands (19 point change) and Spain (17 point change).

Conversely, in six countries, there has been no significant change in views of the U.S. People in Israel, Nigeria and Turkey have become more likely to give the U.S. a favorable rating since last year. Israel and Nigeria are two of the five nations (along with Hungary, India and Kenya) where half of adults or more express confidence in Trump's handling of world affairs.