Younger Americans are more positive toward Mexico than older Americans are. Around half of U.S. adults under 30 (48%) have a favorable view of Mexico, compared with just 25% of those ages 65 and older.
Mexicans hold generally positive views of the United States, while Americans hold generally negative views of Mexico – a reversal from 2017 – according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in both countries earlier this year.
In this analysis, we’ll take a closer look at how Mexicans and Americans view the other country, as well as their attitudes about how each government is handling the large number of migrants seeking to cross the border from Mexico in the U.S.
How Mexicans view the U.S., and how Americans view Mexico
Mexicans and Americans view the other country in opposite ways:
• Most Mexicans (61%) have a favorable view of the U.S., compared with 33% who hold an unfavorable view.
• By contrast, 60% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Mexico, while 37% have a favorable view of their southern neighbor.
These attitudes have changed markedly over time. As recently as 2017 – when Donald Trump was the president of the U.S. – only 29% of Mexicans had a favorable opinion of their northern neighbor. And 65% of Americans had a favorable opinion of Mexico.
(It’s important to note that our U.S. surveys are now conducted online. Prior to 2020, we conducted U.S. surveys by phone, which means that findings before and after the change in survey mode may not be directly comparable.)
Differences by age, race and ethnicity, and party
In Mexico and the U.S. alike, views of the other country differ by age and other factors. For example, 71% of Mexican adults under 30 have a positive view of the U.S., compared with only half of Mexicans ages 65 and older.
Similarly, younger Americans are more positive toward Mexico than older Americans are. Around half of U.S. adults under 30 (48%) have a favorable view of Mexico, compared with just 25% of those ages 65 and older.
Americans’ attitudes toward Mexico also differ by race and ethnicity. Around half of Hispanic Americans (53%) see Mexico positively, compared with only 30% of White, non-Hispanic Americans. Other racial and ethnic groups are more evenly divided in their sentiments.
There are also large partisan differences in the U.S.: 52% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a favorable view of Mexico, compared with only 22% of Republicans and Republican leaners.
Views of the U.S. government’s handling of the border
Americans are much more critical than Mexicans of the way the U.S. government is dealing with the large number of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico. (The survey was conducted before a recent decline in migrant encounters at the border due to asylum policy changes in the U.S. and Mexico.)
More than eight-in-ten Americans (83%) say the U.S. government is doing a bad job dealing with migrants at the border, including half who say the government is doing a very bad job. By comparison, a much smaller share of Mexicans (52%) say the U.S. government is doing a bad job, including just 13% who say it’s doing a very bad job.
Views of the Mexican government’s handling of the border
We also asked people in both countries to rate the Mexican government’s handling of the large number of people seeking asylum at the border.
Again, Americans express much more negative views than Mexicans. Two-thirds of U.S. adults say the Mexican government is doing a bad job, including 48% who say it is doing a very bad job. A much smaller share of Mexicans (38%) say their government is doing a bad job, and only 9% say it is doing a very bad job.
How Mexicans view Biden and Trump
Mexicans’ confidence in the U.S. president has shifted dramatically depending on who is in office.
Trump was very unpopular with the Mexican public in 2017, as was his call for the building of a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border. More than nine-in-ten Mexicans opposed the construction of a border wall, and 93% had no confidence in Trump’s ability to lead in 2017.
Mexicans’ views rebounded somewhat when Joe Biden took office in 2021. But today, six-in-ten Mexicans have little or no confidence in Biden. This remains below the 86% of Mexicans who today lack confidence in Trump. (This survey was conducted when Biden was still actively seeking reelection.)
More broadly, Mexicans have little to no confidence in all the world leaders we asked about in our survey, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping and others.
Fuente: Pew Research Center
Compartir
