Philippines loves Trump the most among 33 countries surveyed
The Philippines has the most confidence in US President Donald Trump among 33 countries worldwide, a survey by the Pew Research Centre shows.
At least 77 per cent of respondents in the Philippines said they had confidence Trump would do the right thing on world affairs. Only 19 per cent said otherwise.
Trump’s high rating seemed to overlook the former businessman’s stringent immigration policies that included ending what Trump had said was “chain migration”, or the practice of Filipino immigrants in the US petitioning their relatives in the Philippines to become US immigrants, too.
Trump upended decades of US immigration policy by declaring a merit-based entry for immigrants in the US, putting an end to the practice of immigrants, including those from the Philippines, of bringing relatives with them to the US through petitions.
Estimates had placed the number of Filipinos awaiting approval of petitions by relatives in the US at 200,000. Trump had effectively shut the door to these people.
According to the survey results, Trump was seen in a positive light by 69 and 78 per cent of Filipinos in his first two years in office.
This was, however, significantly lower than the rating of former US President Barack Obama — 84, 89 and 94 per cent from 2013 to 2015.
Among world leaders, Trump had the most positive review from Filipinos. Trailing him were France’s centrist Emmanuel Macron (62 per cent), Russia's Vladimir Putin (61 per cent), Germany’s Angela Merkel and China’s Xi Jinping (both 58 per cent).
Among all nationalities surveyed by Pew, 64 per cent expressed no confidence in Trump’s handling of international affairs. Only 29 per cent felt confident Trump knew what he was doing on the world stage.
Also, the Pew survey results showed that the Philippines was the second country with the most favourable view of the US — 80 per cent, behind Israel’s 83 per cent.
The Philippines’ favourable view of Trump comes as no surprise given Trump’s earlier praise for President Rodrigo Duterte’s handling of the drug war.
The survey was conducted in 33 countries from May 18 to October 2, 2019.
It was launched months before Trump ordered the killing of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani which drew negative reactions worldwide and has increased tension between Iran and the US.