Gallup Poll: Americans Think World Leaders Don't Respect Obama

Democrats and independents are turning on President Barack Obama, and for the first-time, polling data indicates a majority of Americans believe other world leaders do not respect the commander in chief, according to Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll.

While Republicans have consistently held that opinion, according to Gallup polling data, Democrats and independents have increasingly lost confidence in the president. In 2013, just 14 percent of Democrats polled said they felt other world leaders did not respect the president. That figure doubled in 2014. Independents went from 47 percent holding that belief in 2013 to 57 percent in 2014.

Overall, 53 percent of Americans believe Obama is not respected by other world leaders, a 10 percent jump since last year.

"The recent decline may be more tied to specific international matters from the past year, such as the revelation the U.S. was listening in on foreign leaders' phone calls, the situation in Syria, increased tensions with Russia, and an uneasy relationship between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," notes Gallup, which conducted the random sampling telephone survey Feb. 6- 9 with 1,023 adults.

Americans still think the international community views the United States favorably, though just barely — 51 percent compared to 47 percent. Sixty-one percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the United States' position in the world today, a constant since 2007, according to Gallup.

"The last time a majority of Americans were satisfied was in 2003, just after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq," Gallup reports. "By 2004, once it was clear the U.S. would be in a long-term engagement in Iraq, a majority became dissatisfied."

Sliding public opinion about world leaders' views of Obama is consistent with the president's declining approval ratings.

Last month, NBC news reported that 68 percent of Americans believed the country was "stagnant or worse off" than when Obama took office, and for the third straight survey, the number of people who held a negative view of the president outnumbered those who viewed him positively by 44 percent to 42 percent.

Obama's approval ratings have plunged since the abysmal rollout of Obamacare, the president’s signature piece of domestic legislation. Americans are also dissatisfied with the flagging state of the economy.

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