Most of the world has a negative view of United States (US) President Donald Trump, including people in South Africa.

This is according to a survey conducted by Pew Research, a non-partisan think tank based in the US.

The group surveyed more than 40 000 people in 36 countries between February and May this year.

People were asked if they had confidence or no confidence in “US President Donald Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs”.

Globally, 76% of people said they did not have the confidence that he would do the right thing, with 23% saying they believed he would do the right thing.

The views of South Africans were quite similar to the global mainstream, with 67% saying they did not have confidence in Trump, and 26% saying the opposite. People who were neutral or refused to answer are not included.

In only six countries did more people say they had confidence in Trump to do the right thing than those who said they did not have confidence in him.

These were the Philippines (66% had confidence, 29% did not); Israel (66% and 33%); Nigeria (65% and 31%); Kenya (63% and 36%); Ghana (54% and 33%); and India (39% and 36%).

The Philippines was a formal US territory and colony for nearly 50 years, following the 1898 Spanish-American War. While it gained full sovereignty as an independent nation in 1946, the two countries remain deeply tied through military alliances, trade, and cultural integration. Israel faces a serious terror threat, as do Nigeria and Kenya, while India, a fairly right-wing society, is engaged in an emerging Great Power rivalry with China, and also faces a terror threat.

Views in Hungary and Colombia were fairly evenly split. In Hungary 44% had confidence in Trump and 55% did not, while in Colombia 43% had confidence and 53% did not.

Hungary is one of the most conservative countries in Europe and has been championed by Trump, yet even in that country views towards Trump are not particularly positive.

At the other end of the scale, the countries that viewed Trump the most negatively were Turkey (92% did not have confidence in him and 6% did); Sweden (89% and 11%); Mexico (88% and 11%); Pakistan (82% and 12%); and Malaysia (87% and 13%).

This could be because three of these are countries with Muslim majorities, while Mexico has come in for particularly harsh commentary from Trump for a variety of reasons, and Swedish culture is partly based on a concept called “janteloven”, which enforces social norms against boasting and individual hubris.

The very negative opinions of Trump jar slightly against the reality of the world. Trump has been party to the negotiation of eight global peace pacts, ranging from that between Israel and Hamas to those between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Cambodia and Thailand, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan, among others.

The global economic outlook is also very strong and global stock markets are holding record highs, up around 35% since Trump’s second term started at the beginning of last year.