The number of Americans who believe the United States is the world’s moral leader has plummeted over the past decade, a new Ipsos poll shows, with Democrats and independents the most skeptical of the country’s position.
Key data
In a survey conducted in early December and released Friday, only 39% of respondents said they believe the United States is the world’s moral leader, a drop of 21 percentage points from the 60% who believed so in 2017.
Perception is sharply divided along partisan lines: 64% of Republicans still believe the U.S. is the moral leader, compared to 24% of Democrats and 35% of independents.
Half of Americans (50%) also believe the U.S. has lost global influence over the past five years, another highly polarized opinion politically (72% of Democrats believe the U.S. is losing influence versus 26% of Republicans).
Only 21% of respondents said they believe the United States has gained influence, and 24% said its level of influence has remained about the same (5% of people did not answer the question).
When asked which country is the world’s leading economic power, the United States was the most common answer, with 41% of respondents, closely followed by China, which 29% considered the leader.
The United States was also the majority answer when asked who is the world’s leading military power (64% of respondents) and the leader in diplomacy (38%), but more people identified China as the world’s leader in technology (40%) compared to 23% who chose the United States.
Read also: ‘I don’t need international law’: Trump
Trend
More Americans favor an “America First” foreign policy approach, the poll showed, with 48% believing the United States should stay out of other countries’ affairs (the poll was conducted before Trump’s surprise attack on Venezuela earlier this month). Asked specifically about the ongoing war in Ukraine, 47% of people said they believe the United States is giving too much support to Russia and 37% said America is not supporting Ukraine enough.
Key background
The survey released Friday reflects the results of other recent polls. In May, 52% of Americans told Pew Research that America’s global influence is weakening.
Only 22% of respondents said America’s influence is increasing, compared to 73% who believe China’s influence is getting stronger, 47% said Russia’s influence is growing and 38% said Israel is becoming more influential.
An overwhelming majority (91%) of Americans told Pew that it is important for the United States to be respected around the world, while a much smaller share (56%) said it really is.
A Gallup poll from last March shows that less than half of Americans (45%) think the United States is viewed favorably globally, and 54% believe the country is perceived somewhat or very unfavorably (2% of respondents said they had no opinion).
Surprising fact
The same Gallup poll showed that Americans believe the world views President Donald Trump more favorably in his second term than in his first. When asked in February 2020 if they think the world respects Donald Trump, only 37% of Americans said yes. When the same question was asked in February 2025, 44% responded affirmatively.
This article was originally published on Forbes US
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