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In hardly any other country is Donald Trump so badly viewed as in Germany.
The opposite is true for his successor Joe Biden, who is very much appreciated in this country - as a new study by the American polling institute Pew shows.
These stark contrasts reveal a pattern in the attitude of the Germans: 12 years ago there was already great rejection of the then President George W. Bush, while the Germans were at the fore in the idolatry of Barack Obama.
With a view to the upcoming administration, the Germans generously grant advance praise.
Even before the elected American President Joe Biden will take his oath of office this Wednesday, four out of five German citizens will trust him.
79 percent of Germans say that Biden will do the right thing in relation to world affairs.
Biden has more support in Germany than in France (72 percent) and Great Britain (65 percent).
This is the result of the survey by Pew among 3,066 adults in Germany, France and Great Britain at the end of 2020.
Source: WORLD infographic
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So while Biden is above average in Germany, the outgoing President Donald Trump was less popular in this country than in France and Great Britain.
When Trump took office in 2017, only eleven percent of Germans said they had confidence in Trump.
In France it was 14 percent, in Great Britain 22 percent.
In the United States, Trump had the lowest approval ratings for any president in recent history throughout his tenure.
The new survey data follows a proven pattern.
Barack Obama started with the Germans twelve years ago with an extremely high level of trust.
Its popularity was even higher than that of Bidens today.
In 2009, 93 percent of Germans said Obama would do the right thing about world affairs.
Among the French, 91 percent said this, among the British 86 percent.
Could be happy: The Germans had expressed great confidence in Barack Obama in 2009
Source: AFP via Getty Images
While the level of trust in Obama and Trump remained more or less constant over the course of their term in office, President George W. Bush's reputation fell dramatically (2001 to 2009).
In the beginning, 51 percent of Germans had confidence in Bush - among other things because of the pro-Germany attitude of his father George HW Bush in the process of reunification in 1989/90.
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At the end of his term in office, including after the start of the Iraq war, only one in seven Germans trusted Bush.
The French showed consistently less confidence in him, the British wavered.
The bad values for Trump are likely to be based, among other things, on his permanent verbal attacks on Germany, the EU and NATO.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the poll was conducted prior to the violent assault on the Capitol, fueled by Trump.
How Trump's values developed at the very end of his term in office can only be guessed at - if the trend is clearly pointing downwards.
Trump's successor Biden is verbally more conciliatory, knows Germany far better, has visited it more often and is likely to exercise a more cooperative management style.
Combined with the advance praise for Biden, the vast majority of Europeans are optimistic about the future relationship between their respective country and the USA.
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84 percent of Germans have a positive view of German-American relations.
Only 13 percent are pessimistic.
84 percent of the French also expect a good relationship between the US and their country.
The British are somewhat more skeptical, 72 percent of whom are optimistic about their relationship with the United States.
In a separate Pew poll among Americans, they are also optimistic about the future of their country's relations with Europe.
73 percent have a positive outlook on the coming years.
Supporters of the Democrats (83 percent) are particularly optimistic.
But even the supporters of the Republicans are 62 percent optimistic.
Europeans' trust in Biden extends across all three major policy areas that citizens were asked about in the new study.
Around two-thirds of Germans, French and British expect that the new president will improve Washington’s foreign policy, climate policy and the fight against the corona virus.
Expressed in figures, this means for Germany: 69 percent expect a better US foreign policy, 64 percent expect a better response to climate change and 72 percent expect a better response to the corona epidemic.
Immediately before the inauguration, Biden got a good grade in the USA for his management of the transition phase since the presidential election.
67 percent of US citizens say they agree, as a survey by the broadcaster ABC News and the Washington Post shows.
1002 American adults were surveyed between January 10 and 13.
However, they are considerably more skeptical about Biden's future term as president.
49 percent of Americans think Biden will make good decisions for the country, 50 percent disagree.
The numbers reflect the deep division of America.
Still, these values are more optimistic than before.
Four years ago, only 38 percent of those surveyed said they expected Trump to make good decisions for the country.