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Swedes fall out of love with the US and they definitely don't like Donald Trump: poll

The Local Sweden
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Swedes fall out of love with the US and they definitely don't like Donald Trump: poll
Swedes are not big fans of US president Donald Trump. Photo: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Swedish public confidence in the US presidency has dropped 83 percentage points in a year.

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During Barack Obama's final year in charge, 93 percent of Swedes said they had confidence in the US president to do the right thing in world affairs, according to the Pew Research Center.

But since Donald Trump took over that has fallen to ten percent, a bigger drop than any other country polled.

The past months have made it clear there's no love lost between Swedes and the new president, which may explain why their favourability to the US as a whole has dropped to 45 percent from 69 percent a year ago.

Trump has provoked anger several times in Sweden and other European countries since he took office, not least with his infamous "last night in Sweden" comments which prompted several Swedes to hit back, with the prime minister and even King Carl XVI Gustaf himself emphasizing the importance of fact-checking.

Former foreign minister Carl Bildt, also a former centre-right prime minister of Sweden, tweeted in response to the US president's words at the time: "What has he been smoking?"

READ MORE: Times Donald Trump hit the headlines in Sweden

Even if it had not been for that it is likely Sweden would not have been the world's biggest fan of the Republican president, who is far from most mainstream politicians in the comparatively left-wing Nordic country, and Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal did not go down well in Sweden.

In fairness, it is not just Trump who has engaged in a bit of Sweden bashing.

Sweden has hit back in kind, for example when climate minister and deputy prime minister Isabella Lövin went viral with a picture of her signing the proposal for Sweden's new climate law with her female colleagues, parodying Trump's signing off on an abortion order while surrounded only by men.

And let's not forget the viral Trump handshake animation and Trump Donald Trump website which both originated in Sweden.

According to a domestic poll by Novus for Swedish radio in March, 80 percent of Swedes said they disliked the American leader, compared to only one in ten who said they liked him.

The Swedes are even more negative towards Trump than the Germans, where 11 percent of people have confidence in the US presidency according to Pew, compared to 93 percent in Obama's last year.

In Germany, favorability towards the US today is at 35 percent, down from 57 percent when he became president. During Obama's years, US favorability among Germans fluctuated between 50 and 64 percent.

READ ALSO: What do the French think of Donald Trump?

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