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French public far less positive towards US and it looks like Trump’s to blame

The French have much less favourable views towards the US in 2017 thanks mainly to the fact that the French public's confidence in the US presidency has seen a sharp drop since Donald Trump moved into the White House, a new report shows. And it's not really a surprise.

Published: 27 June 2017 13:09 CEST
French public far less positive towards US and it looks like Trump's to blame
Photo: AFP
French people are far less favourable towards the US than they were in the past and its largely down to the massive loss of confidence in the US president since Donald Trump took office.
 
Today in France, favorability towards the US is at 46 percent, a significant fall since Obama's presidency when levels of favorability remained fairly stable at around 73-75 percent. 
 
The drop is mainly down to French views of Donald Trump.
 
French confidence towards the US president has sharply declined since Donald Trump came into power, according to respected American think-tank Pew Research Centre. 
 
Confidence has dropped to the lowest levels since the George W Bush presidency, with just 14 percent of French people saying they have confidence in the US president.
 
Back in 2008 only 13 percent of French people said they had confidence in Trump's predecessor Bush.
 
 
This is in stark contrast to the days of his predecessor, US president Barack Obama, when levels of French confidence in the presidency remained consistently high, at well above 75 percent. 
 
In the past year in France, public confidence has dropped from 84 percent in Obama's last year to the current level of 14 percent.
 
There are valid reasons why the French might not have faith in Trump, not least because he has engaged in a fair amount of French-bashing in recent months and angered many politicians on this side of the Pond.
 
Trump provoked anger several times in France by suggesting the string of terror attacks the country has suffered was the “country's own fault”, as well as bemoaning the fact that “France was no longer France”.
 
 
One Frenchwoman's response to a Trump tweet about a terror attack in Paris showed the level of anger in France over some statements made by the US president. Her Facebook post went viral in the US, in part because she accused the US president of “arseholery”.
 
“Thanks for all your concern but don't use France as an excuse for your arseholery,” she said.
 
 
 
Apart from those barbs by Trump many French were also likely to have been unimpressed by the fact he appeared to back the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the presidential election.
 
Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate deal also did not go down well in France.
 
Surveys also showed that since Trump was elected president of the United States in November last year, the numbers of French citizens visiting the US has dropped notably.
 
Since the 8th of November, when Trump won the presidential election, flight searches from France to the US decreased by 14 percent versus the same period last year.
 
The loss of confidence in Trump has contributed to a steep drop in favourability towards the US among the French.
 
Today in France, favorability towards the US is at 46 percent, a significant fall since Obama's presidency when levels of favorability remained fairly stable at around 73-75 percent. 
 
The French are only slightly more positive towards Trump than the Germans, where 11 percent of people have confidence in the US presidency, while during Obama's terms those levels reached highs of 93 percent. 
 
In Germany, favorability towards the US today is at 35 percent, down from 57 percent when he became president. During Obama's presidency, US favorability among Germans fluctuated between 50 and 64 percent. 
 
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'It's their own fault' - Trump slams France and GermanyPhoto: AFP 

Of the three, the UK has the highest confidence in the current US president but it's still a paltry 22 percent. Trump recently cancelled a visit to the UK that was due to be marked by huge street protests.
 
And in the UK, favorability towards the US is at 50 percent compared to 65 percent in 2015, towards the end of Obama's presidency.
 
Among almost all of the US’s major allies across the globe, including Canada, public confidence has been severely damaged since the unpredictable property tycoon came to power.
 
But Trump certainly isn't unpopular everywhere, with the research showing that in Israel and Russia people have more confidence in him than his predecessor. 
 
This year, 53 percent of Russians have at least some confidence in the US president, up from an Obama-era low of 11 percent in 2015, while in Israel, 56 percent are confident in president Trump, up from 49 percent confidence for Obama in 2015. 
 
 
Photo: Screengrab France24
 
 
 

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TRAVEL

US reclassifies Switzerland: What does it mean for American travellers?

America’s public health agency eased travel alerts for dozens of countries this week, including Switzerland. But does it mean that people from the United States can now travel here?

Published: 11 June 2021 11:37 CEST
US reclassifies Switzerland: What does it mean for American travellers?
Not yet, but hopefully soon. Photo by Jan Rosolino / Unsplash

Switzerland in early June announced vaccinated travellers would be able to come on June 28th. Therefore, this story is now out of date. Please click here for more information. 

Due to massive vaccination efforts around the world, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered travel warning levels  for more than 110 countries and destinations, including Switzerland.

From the highest level four previously, which means all travel is discouraged, Switzerland was ‘promoted’ to Level 3, allowing travel for fully vaccinated individuals.

In total, 14 countries, including Switzerland’s neighbours France and Italy, have been reclassified to a lower level.

Does this mean American tourists can now come to Switzerland?

Even though the CDC has cleared travel for vaccinated US residents, it doesn’t mean they are now allowed to enter Switzerland.

For the time being, travel ban is still in place for most third countries, including the United States. The only exceptions are Swiss citizens or permanent residents returning to Switzerland.

READ MORE: When will Americans be allowed to travel to Switzerland again —and vice-versa?

There are some other exemptions as well, including people whose presence in Switzerland is absolutely necessary to maintain the functioning of the healthcare system or public security and order, death of a close family member in Switzerland, and to continue essential medical treatment that began in Switzerland or abroad.

Each of these conditions must be proven with official documentation.

For other ‘special necessity’ rules, see SEM’s page.

Basically, this means that tourists or other random travellers can’t come to Switzerland at the moment.

There are, however, some promising signs that this restriction may be lifted.

Swiss president Guy Parmelin is scheduled to meet with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on June 15th. Biden will be in Geneva for high-level talks with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. 

It is not known what Switzerland and the United States will discuss at the meeting, beyond matters of importance to both nations, but there is a possibility that the subject of easing travel restrictions on both sides will be raised.

Also, under France’s new traffic light travel system, fully-vaccinated travellers can now enter France from non-EU countries, including the US.

This does not apply to Switzerland yet, but as the two countries share a border and both are part of the Schengen zone, Swiss entry regulations for US tourists might be relaxed in the near future — though not at this time.

Does this mean US residents can ‘slip’ into Switzerland through France?

Borders between the two countries are pretty porous and checks random at best, but if you attempt to get into Switzerland this way, you’d be breaking the law.

The only US citizens who can come into Switzerland legally right now are those residing in the EU/EFTA states, or one of the third nations deemed safe by public health officials:  Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Rwanda, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand.

In other words, it’s not the nationality of a traveller that counts but their place of residence.

What about Swiss citizens going on vacation to the United States?

The US still has a ban in place for tourists from the EU, including Switzerland. It also has similar exceptions — that is, US citizens and permanent residents returning from abroad.

The US is forming expert groups to decide when to lift global travel restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.

However, this will probably take time and, despite mounting pressure from the travel industry and airlines, US-bound travel may not be on the horizon for this summer.

READ MORE: How to get Switzerland’s Covid-19 health pass

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