Dem
47
GOP
53
Here is the question we put before readers 2 weeks ago:
F.S. in Cologne, Germany, asks: You have written that certain U.S. presidents are popular in different countries. On the other side, which U.S. presidents are particularly unpopular or hated outside of the United States? And in which countries are they unpopular?
And here some of the answers we got in response:
S.P. in Pittsburgh, PA: In Greece, at least during the 1990s, Ronald Reagan was particularly hated. His "cowboy" persona was viewed as a false facade hiding a vulture capitalist who ran roughshod over weaker allies, and his comment that he wouldn't mind a small thermonuclear war in Europe was not appreciated by the people of Europe (shocking, I know). The Greek PM of the time, Andreas Papandreou, was a Socialist and enjoyed being a thorn in the side of American interests as a NATO partner. So Papandreou forces likely encouraged and exacerbated the anti-Reagan feeling.
B.J.L. in Ann Arbor, MI: I imagine the founding of the Peace Corps (1960) and the efforts linked with USAID and the Marshall plan went a long way to making more recent crappy presidents get more benefit of the doubt in international relations. Jimmy Carter was noted as an oddball and tolerated, but less respected as he went along. Donald Trump is generally hated on the continents of Europe and South America. He's probably viewed as a tragic racist in Africa and simply transactional in parts of Arabia and Asia. If it's possible to hate him, most folks in the diplomatic world do.
G.R. in Carol Stream, IL: Growing up in Brazil, I can say that most presidents of the United States were disliked there, because the U.S. was seen as a meddling superpower. One notable exception was Jimmy Carter, for his involvement with Amnesty International, and for sending Rosalynn to annoy our military overlords. Ronald Reagan was seen as a phony bad actor, probably just a front for whoever actually governed the country. Lyndon B. Johnson was despised for his role in sponsoring the 1964 putsch that took down our democracy.
The next, and so far last, U.S. president to be liked in Brazil was Barack Obama. And that was after I had moved out of the country. Obama was liked, in great part, "for not being George W. Bush," as one SNL skit said when commenting about his Nobel Prize. People were convinced that Bush was going to start the third world war and destroy the planet. With Obama, the world breathed a sigh of relief. Obama was seen as a normal, relatable guy. I have on my shelf a book by a Brazilian author which has the long and provocative title: If Not For Brazil, Barack Obama Would Never Had Been Born. And that, my friends, is the truth.
The less said about the current Dear Leader, the better. But there's very little love for him down there.
J.K. in Portland, OR: I've got three:
- The incumbent, with a rapidly-growing list, for the obvious reasons.
- Harry S. Truman, for Hiroshima and (especially) Nagasaki.
- James K. Polk in Mexico.
R.P. in Gloucester City, NJ: Donald J. Trump is probably the most unpopular U.S. president throughout the world and throughout history, except for isolated spots like Israel or Hungary.
Lyndon B. Johnson offended almost everybody everywhere, especially because of the Vietnam War and the Dominican Republic.
Ronald Reagan probably remains popular in Europe (especially East Germany) due to the end of the Cold War (I won't say he ended it), but I doubt they like him much in Iran, Libya, or Central American countries. Or Russia.
J.B. in Bozeman, MT: As an elder millennial, I only have adult-ish recollections of later Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and The Convicted Felon (TCF). Also, although I try to keep up with at least the broad strokes of foreign affairs, American news media is probably biased in how much they report on the opinions or indifference of our presidents overseas.
I suspect though TCF will probably blow all his predecessors and successors out of the water given his recent sloppy attempts at imperialism as well as general tackiness, xenophobia, and sophomoric understanding of... everything.
But I also bet the Republican Party of the past 60-ish years in general is unpopular abroad. Richard Nixon's escalation and expansion in Vietnam probably didn't make us any friends. Ronald Reagan may have helped (somewhat) to breakup the U.S.S.R., but Iran-Contra made the U.S. look like a second-rate mafia operation. And who can forget Junior Bush's squandering of good will around the world after September 11 with chicanery used to justify the invasion of Iraq? I also gather the GOP is also much more conservative than other conservative parties abroad. They also deny science much more often and have been ruthless in the search of power.
F.J.V.S. in Acapulco, Mexico: You may already know that the Mexican Armed Forces captured a drug kingpin in a Western state of Mexico, who died while being transferred to the capital. Posts on social networks and opinion pieces in newspapers (mostly from the opposition) credit his death to no one else than El Donaldo, mostly because this is a black eye to President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (actually, they all hope that the situation worsens, so they can blame the president).
Nonetheless, some people I have spoken with (and I also include myself) think that it may be that without the pressure of Trompas (large mouths), nothing of that could have been achieved. That does not mean that the American president is popular in Mexico (he is not), but I would think he might be if he continues pressuring the government into capturing more drugs kingpins, as the main concerns for Mexicans is security (a little bit old but nothing has changed).
M.O. in Helsingør, Denmark: Donald Trump is pretty unpopular here in Denmark. In a Gallup poll from December he was 82 points under water and I would guess it's even worse now.
George the Younger was pretty unpopular too, because of the whole Iraq mess, but nothing like Trump.
M.M. in San Diego, CA: Okay, I'll take the pot shot: Isn't Donald Trump universally hated all around the world?
Here is the question for next week:
J.W. in West Chester, PA, asks: What do you think is the best episode of any of the Star Trek series?
Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Spock's Brain"!