America's image abroad rebounds

June 12, 2021 | by Julian L. Mertz | No comments

June 12, 2021

Weekly Roundup

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America’s image abroad rebounds with transition from Trump to Biden

The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image. Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, publics around the world held the United States in low regard, with most opposed to Trump’s foreign policies. Now, a new survey of 16 publics finds a significant uptick in ratings for the U.S., with strong support for Biden and several of his major policy initiatives. Looking at 12 nations surveyed both this year and in 2020, a median of 75% express confidence in Biden, compared with 17% for Trump last year.

Americans have less confidence in key world leaders – including Biden – than other global publics do

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say they have confidence in President Joe Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs – similar to the share who express confidence in German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron and far higher than the share who have confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. By comparison, people in other surveyed parts of the world are generally more likely to have confidence in each of these leaders.

Today’s electric vehicle market: Slow growth in U.S., faster in China, Europe

A small but significant share of car owners in the United States have traded filling up for plugging in. As of 2020, nearly 1.8 million electric vehicles were registered in the U.S., more than three times as many as in 2016. But the U.S. represents only about 17% of the world’s total stock of 10.2 million EVs, trailing China (44%) and Europe (31%). The fastest growth in EV sales has been in Europe as well.

What makes a news story trustworthy? Americans point to the outlet that publishes it, sources cited

Half of U.S. adults point to the news organization that publishes a story as a very important factor when determining its trustworthiness, while a similar share (47%) point to the sources that are cited in it. Fewer cite their gut instinct about the story (30%), the specific journalist who reported it (24%), the person who shared it with them (23%) or the engagement it has received on social media (6%).

Use of anonymous sources uncommon in early Biden coverage, least likely in outlets with right-leaning audiences

Measuring the risks of panel conditioning in survey research

As public opinion polling increasingly moves toward the use of online panels, pollsters face the possibility that their data could be damaged by interviewing the same set of people over and over again. A new study finds no evidence that this potential effect, called conditioning, has biased Pew Research Center estimates for news consumption, discussing politics, political partisanship, or voting – though panel participation did lead to a slight uptick in voter registration.

During the pandemic, teen summer employment hit its lowest point since the Great Recession

How younger U.S. Jews are similar to – and different from – older U.S. Jews

Predicting 2030: What’s next for ethical AI

Join Pew Research Center and data.org for a webinar launch of a new Pew Research Center report, Ethical AI Design in the Next Decade. In this session, Lee Rainie, Director of Internet and Technology Research at Pew Research Center, and Prof. Janna Anderson from the Imagining the Internet Center will reveal highlights from a canvassing of over 600 technology innovators and developers, business and policy leaders, researchers and activists. Register here.

From our research

30.8%

The share of U.S. teens who worked during the summer of 2020, nearing a record low.

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