‘Trump effect’ prompts global perception of United States to drop: study

The United States is no longer on brand to be the best.

According to the Nation Brands Index’s annual ranking of countries with the best “brand image,” Germany is the most admired country worldwide while the United States, meanwhile has dropped in the 2017 ranking from first to sixth.

To complete the study, German-based market research firm GfK teamed up with British political consultant and professor Simon Anholt to measure the opinions worldwide on “the power quality of each country’s brand image.”

More than 50 countries were analyzed in categories including people, governance, exports, tourism, investment and immigration and culture and heritage.

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France, Britain, Canada and Japan claimed the remaining spots between Germany and the newly-dethroned United States for 2017.

“The USA’s fall in the ‘Governance’ cateogy suggests that we are witnessing the ‘Trump Effect,’ following President Trump’s focused political message of ‘America First,’” Anholt said, noting United States saw a similar drop to seventh place after the re-election of George W. Buch.

“Previously, America has never stayed outside the top ranking for more than a year at a time: it will be interesting to see whether this holds true in the 2018 ranking.”

Anholt, who created the study in 2005, also pointed out that Americans view their own country more favorably than this time last year, despite the contrary outside perspective.

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The U.K. held firm in third place this year despite the controversial Brexit vote, while France made the most notable jump upwards to second.

Germany was ranked in the top five in every single category in the study aside from “tourism,” for which it earned the tenth spot.

“Germany’s image no longer rests on our economic strength,” German Foreign Prime Minister told USA Today after the results were made public. “People think we’re capable of much more in the world.”