Likely reflecting the impact of recent troubles on the international front, the results of a Gallup poll released on Monday showed that a majority of Americans now think President Barack Obama is not respected by other world leaders.
The poll showed that 53 percent of Americans think leaders of other countries do not have much respect for Obama, while 41 percent think the president is respected.
The numbers in the latest poll reflect a reversal from a year ago, when 51 percent said Obama was respected by other leaders and 43 percent said he was not.
Gallup suggested that the drop may reflect specific international matters such as the revelation the U.S. was listening in on foreign leaders' phone calls, the civil war in Syria, increased tensions with Russia, and an uneasy relationship between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The turnaround reflected notable increases in the percentage of Democrats and independents that think Obama is not respected by other world leaders. Republicans remained convinced world leaders don't respect the president.
At the same time, the poll found that 51 percent of Americans still think the international community views the U.S. as a country favorably compared to the 47 percent that think the U.S. is generally viewed unfavorably.
Gallup noted that Americans have been more optimistic about the international community's views of the U.S. since 2010 than they were from 2005 to 2009.
Meanwhile, the poll showed that 61 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the position of the U.S. in the world today compared to just 37 percent that are satisfied.
Gallup Poll Managing Editor Jeffrey Jones noted that Obama has had some success in foreign policy lately but still faces several challenges, including winding down U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, the ongoing civil war in Syria, and North Korea's continued actions.
"To the extent Obama manages these challenges successfully, Americans' views of his competence on international matters, and of world leaders' opinions of him, could improve," Jones said.
The Gallup poll of 1,023 adults was conducted February 6th through 9th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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