The Pew survey comes at a critical juncture in American history: Trump is nearing the second anniversary of his presidential election, the U.S. is preparing for a midterm election, and the nation is watching a bitter fight over the president’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. One could argue that such contentiousness is a historical feature of American politics, but the Pew survey did not ask respondents this year what they thought of American democracy; this question has received mixed reactions in past years.

Trump’s approval in Europe is comparable to the figures seen for President George W. Bush toward the end of his second term. What’s different, however, as Wike wrote in The Atlantic in May, is that America’s previous unpopularity came from what its critics viewed as overreach in Iraq. The disapproval in the Trump years stems from the U.S. disengaging, in its critics’ view, from the rest of the world. Indeed, the latest Pew survey bears that thesis out: 37 percent of respondents said the U.S. was less involved in the world compared to past years, 34 percent said the U.S. involvement was about the same, and about 14 percent said the U.S. had increased its global role.

Read why Europeans turned against Trump.

To be sure, there have always been strains of anti-Americanism among certain European elites, especially over U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Iraq, and the global war on terrorism, but Wike said that “attitudes about American foreign policy didn’t have a big impact about what European [citizens] are thinking about the United States.”

“The U.S. still has a lot of soft power in Europe and other parts of the world ... But when you look at American policies, attitudes toward the American president, those are right now very negative in Europe,” he said. “It’s those things that are driving down the overall ratings for the United States in Europe.”

Indeed, Trump is viewed with less confidence than German Chancellor Angela Merkel (52 percent confidence), French President Emmanuel Macron (46 percent), Chinese President Xi Jinping (34 percent), and Russian President Vladimir Putin (30 percent). Additionally, when Trump does find support in Europe, it is often from supporters of radical-right parties in the U.K., Sweden, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, who are more likely to view him favorably than their compatriots.

Still, the world’s views about the U.S., or indeed its president, don’t mean that the alternatives to U.S. power are particularly attractive. When asked if it would be better for the world to have the U.S. or China as the leading power, 63 percent said the U.S.; 19 percent wanted China. Support for the U.S. was particularly high in Asian countries (73 percent) and in western Europe (64 percent). Or to put it another way: The world may not like Trump or the direction the U.S. is headed in, but the alternatives look worse.