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Chandigarh: The image of the United States (US) as the so-called indispensable global power is rapidly eroding, as international surveys and perception studies point to a steady decline in trust in its leadership, reliability and strategic consistency. For decades after the Second World War, through the Cold War era that followed, and until recently, the US was widely regarded as the principal guarantor of what passed for the liberal international order, as well as the dominant financial, political, military and moral superpower in global affairs.

That standing is now under visible strain amid perceptions of policy volatility, inward-looking nationalism and an increasingly transactional approach to commercial, economic, diplomatic and military commitments, as reflected by a broad range of global polling and survey-based indices. The latest of these, released on May 8 – the Democracy Perception Index (DPI) 2026 executed by the Denmark-based Alliance of Democracies Foundation – awarded the US a net perception score of -16%, placing it even below both Russia (-11%) and China ( 7%) for the second consecutive year.

In this survey, China emerged as the only country among the three with a positive net score.

Other surveys conducted by the Pew Research Centre in Washington, DC, Edelman Data and Intelligence (DxI) in New York, and the UK’s BBC World Service have similarly recorded declining confidence in the US’s leadership. And, despite differences in methodology, sample size and question framing, all four surveys collectively show that the era of unquestioned US dominance in global influence is steadily breaking down.

Increasingly, Washington is less regarded as the world’s default political and strategic anchor, alongside continued centrality in financial systems, integration in technological ecosystems and commercial and trade relationships. Yet, across these surveys, this decline is not universal, with the US still retaining strong credibility in Asia – particularly Japan, South Korea and India – a result anchored in defence cooperation and security alignments.

China, Russia improve image and standing

Correspondingly, China’s global standing has risen significantly across Africa, East and Southeast........

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