Median approval in Asian countries of US leadership jumps up in 2021: Gallup

Median approval of the United States’s leadership jumped 10 percent between 2020 and 2021 in Asia and even higher in several nations in southeast Asia, according to a new analysis of surveys from Gallup.

The analysis comes just weeks ahead of a special summit the White House will host with southeast Asian leaders.

An analysis of Gallup surveys released on Friday shows that the median approval of U.S. leadership stood at 41 percent across Asia in 2021, a jump from 31 percent the year prior.

The Asian countries that gave U.S. leadership the highest marks included the Philippines (71 percent), Myanmar (65 percent), Mongolia (60 percent) and South Korea (59 percent.)

Asian countries that give U.S. leadership the lowest scores include Iran (seven percent), Afghanistan (14 percent), Turkey (22 percent) and Pakistan (23 percent.)

The Asian countries where Gallup surveys noticed the biggest change in approval ratings of U.S. leadership between 2020 and 2021 occurred in Laos (a 30 percent increase), South Korea (29 percent increase) and Vietnam (24 percent increase).

China was not included in the surveys.

The development comes as the White House last week announced it would be hosting a special summit for the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The summit “will demonstrate the United States’ enduring commitment to ASEAN, recognizing its central role in delivering sustainable solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges, and commemorate 45 years of U.S.-ASEAN relations” and “will build on President Biden’s participation in the October 2021 U.S.-ASEAN Summit,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. 

The Gallup analysis of surveys includes 33 countries and Taiwan-the Republic of China, which were conducted between April 2021 and January 2022. The margin of sampling error is between plus or minus 2.8 percentage points and plus or minus 5 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.