The Gallup poll, which has asked the question since 1994, reflects a precipitous drop over the last year in the number of Americans who think President Obama is respected.

Politico:

For the first time, a majority of Americans think President Barack Obama is not respected among world leaders, according to a new poll that found opinion has plunged "dramatically" in the past year. Fifty-three percent now say Obama is not respected on the international stage, up from 43 percent a year ago, the Gallup poll on Monday shows. And the number who say they believe the president is respected has dropped to 41 percent from 51 percent over the same time, the poll found. The pollster attributes the decline to the spate of difficult international issues the president has dealt with over the past year, including tensions with Russia and Israel, the situation in Syria and the tapping of phones calls of foreign leaders. Obama's shift in his foreign approval comes largely from both Democrats and independents. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats say he is respected by other world leaders, down from 80 percent in 2013. Similarly, only 34 percent of independents say he is respected, down from 49 percent in 2013. Remaining consistent are Republicans. Nineteen percent say the president is not respected by other leaders, down 2 points from 2013. Nevertheless, while Obama's numbers are at their lowest, Gallup notes the all-time low since the question was first asked in 1994, was reached in 2007 when only 21 percent of respondents said former President George W. Bush was respected by other world leaders. The pollster also says former President Bill Clinton saw similar numbers to Obama's in 1994 and 2000.

That's some nice spin from Gallup about the reason for the president's declining numbers. It's not a question of how "difficult" the issues have been, but rather the manner in which the president has incompetently dealt with them. Nothing really "difficult" about stupidly drawing a red line over Syrian chemcial weapons and then backing down when saved from having to start a war by Vladimir Putin. Other foreign policy "challenges" have either not been met or have been a failure.

The poll also shows that most Americans - 51% - think that the US is respected on the world stage. That's down from 55% last year.

The Ukraine crisis showed how relevant Obama is. The EU ended up brokering the deal with precious little help from the administration. Our allies know the qualities of the president and acted accordingly.

Ronald Reagan always thought that it was better for the US to be feared rather than liked. At this point in his presidency, Obama has made the US neither.



















