Trump and US soft power

ABSTRACT

President Trump’s leadership style departed from any other presidents in the US. Trump’s unconventional speeches, offhanded remarks, and unilateral foreign policies raised concerns among politicians and citizens around the world. This article examines perceptions of global citizens of President Trump’s leadership from his personality and policy perspectives as well as their damaging effects on US soft power. According to the analysis of the 2017 Pew Research Center’s global attitudes project, respondents from the majority of countries in the sample regard Trump’s leadership negatively, the effects mostly driven by Trump’s own personality traits. Trump’s divergent policies concerning critical global issues – the environment, immigration, Iran deal, trade relations, and religion – further curtail the favorability rating of the US and deepen anti-Americanism among citizens in other nations.

KEYWORDS:

• Trump
• US soft power
• Trumpism
• foreign policies
• leadership

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Toby James and the anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments and suggestions. Myunghee Kim acknowledges Michael D. McDonald and Ian Budge for their ongoing support and guidance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The response was recoded to correspond to the same direction. That is, the response “yes” depicts negative perceptions of Trump’s personality.

2 The IIF is consistent with other traditional tests to construct an index, such as Cronbach α or factor analysis. Those two items, “weak” and “uncharismatic,” show the least item-test correlation with 0.56 for each. For factor analysis, those two items display the weakest structure matrix coefficients of 0.19, while those of other items range from 0.63 to 0.77.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Myunghee Kim

Myunghee Kim is Associate Professor of School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida. She specializes in comparative politics and international relations with research interests in political behaviour, political institutions, Asian politics, and religion. Her works can be found in Electoral Studies, International Studies Perspectives, Political Studies, Social Science Quarterly, and elsewhere.

Jonathan O. Knuckey

Jonathan O. Knuckey is Associate Professor of School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida. He specializes in American politics with research interests in political behaviour, electoral behaviour, and public opinion. His works can be found in Social Science Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and elsewhere.