MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has the most confidence in US President Donald Trump among 33 countries worldwide, a survey by the Pew Research Center shows.
At least 77 percent of respondents in the Philippines said they had confidence Trump would do the right thing on world affairs. Only 19 percent 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 United States of 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 United States, 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 percent 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 percent from 2013 to 2015.
Among world leaders, Trump had the most positive review from Filipinos. Trailing him were France’s centrist Emmanuel Macron (62 percent), Russia’s Vladimir Putin (61 percent), Germany’s Angela Merkel and China’s Xi Jinping (both 58 percent).
Among all nationalities surveyed by Pew, 64 percent expressed no confidence in Trump’s handling of international affairs. Only 29 percent felt confident Trump knew what he was doing in the world stage.
Also, the Pew survey results showed that the Philippines was the second country with the most favorable view of the United States—80 percent, behind Israel’s 83 percent.
The Philippines’ favorable view of Trump comes as no surprise given Trump’s earlier praise for President Rodrigo Duterte’s handling of the drug war.
READ: Trump phone call to Duterte among many that ‘horrified’ White House staff, says US paper
The survey was conducted in 33 countries from May 18 to Oct. 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.
READ: How the world is reacting to US killing of top Iran general