President Donald Trump is trailing far behind former President Barack Obama in a new survey of Americans’ opinions of major international public figures.
Obama holds a clear advantage in public favorability, according to a University of Massachusetts/YouGov poll measuring attitudes toward more than 20 global personalities. He recorded a 50 percent favorability rating and 36 percent unfavorable rating, giving him a net +14 percent.
Trump, meanwhile, sits at -18 percent net favorability, placing him deep in negative territory and well below several other political figures included in the survey.
The only other U.S. president to register a positive result was George W. Bush at +5 percent, while President Joe Biden finished at -19 percent.
At the top of the entire poll was singer Dolly Parton, who dominated with a 70 percent favorability rating and just 5 percent unfavorable, giving her a commanding +65 percent net score—by far the highest in the survey.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
It comes as Trump has seen his approval ratings plummet in recent weeks amid his deeply unpopular war in Iran and concerns about the economy.
A CNN/SSRS poll conducted this month found that approval of Trump’s handling of the economy is the lowest it has been in either of his two terms, with just 31 percent approving.
Meanwhile, a CBS/YouGov poll found that most Americans feel uncomfortable with the war in Iran, which has seen oil and gas prices surge.
According to the poll, 68 percent said they feel worried, 57 percent stressed, and 54 percent angry about the conflict. The poll also found that only 32 percent feel either safe or confident about the conflict.
Polling data also indicates that Trump is now underwater in more than half of the states he carried in 2024, including all seven battleground states he frequently highlights as key victories.
Much of that slide is down to declines among independent voters, younger Americans, and nonwhite voters—groups that had shown him greater openness in the previous election cycle.
That shift has pushed Trump’s approval ratings into historically weak territory for this stage of a presidency, with some polls suggesting he is the most unpopular president ever at this point, narrowly beating out his first-term self.
Polls have also shown that Americans think Trump is performing worse than his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Speaking on the Senate floor last month, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, “Donald Trump is one of the most unpopular presidents at this point in his presidency in history.”
But despite his numbers, Trump has bragged that his polling is the highest he has “ever received.”
“The highest Poll Numbers I have ever received. Obviously, people like a strong and powerful Country, with the best economy, EVER!” he wrote on Truth Social in February.
