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- Only 17% of respondents in a Pew survey abroad said US democracy is a good example.
- A 57% majority said it "used to be a good example, but has not been in recent years."
- Overall international opinion of the US has rebounded sharply under President Joe Biden.
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Although the United States is experiencing a sharp rebound in international approval, a new Pew Research survey found that confidence in American democracy has declined.
Just 17% of Pew's respondents – in this case, a median across 16 international populations – think US democracy is "a good example for other countries to follow."
A similar survey from the Eurasia Group released in April 2020 found a 3% dip in approval of US democracy over the past year, while the Pew study broke it down into several subcategories that are new to its annual global attitudes project.
The most common response Pew got was 57% saying US democracy "used to be a good example, but has not been in recent years."
Another 23% of the people surveyed said it never was in the first place.
While faith in American democracy was low, nearly 70% said the US is a very or somewhat reliable partner. The survey overall found positive opinion of the nation bouncing back, but more so with the arrival of President Joe Biden and the removal of Donald Trump than with the political system writ large.
Just 50% of respondents said the US political system is working well.
One major factor the Pew researchers cited was low approval of the US coronavirus response, which saw America's image plummet in 2020.
Younger and more left-leaning respondents were more likely to have a negative opinion of the US, with those 18 to 29 most likely to say American democracy was never a good example to begin with. At least 40% of young people in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and New Zealand gave that response, the highest of the nations polled.
The difference between Trump and Biden approval shows up throughout the Pew data.
In rating the presidents on personal qualities, respondents gave Biden drastically higher marks.
The 2020 election and its aftermath, culminating in the January 6 Capitol siege, could have played a role in the low approval ratings for US democracy, even though approval of Biden and America's image overall have continued to rise since November and December 2020, according to Pew.