Story highlights
CNN asked people across the globe what they think of the Republican candidate. Here are three things we learned.
Just how would the world react to a Trump White House? Most people we asked say they're scared.
CNN asked people across the globe what they think of the Republican candidate. Here are three things we learned.
There’s a lot of fear
Just how would the world react to a Trump White House? Most people we asked say they’re scared. “I’m actually very, very worried,” a Hong Kong woman told CNN.
Some fear a breakdown in relations between the United States and other countries, while others are concerned he’ll encourage cultural intolerance. The “melting pot we know America as is going to change a lot” a young Cairo student said. Some people are more pessimistic. Standing in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a woman concluded that “Americans could go back in time with this president.”
A few believed that a Trump presidency would lead to World War III.
“That’s it, that’s the end of America,” a Jakarta woman said.
He has some supporters in Russia and Israel
CNN talked to dozens of everyday people in a range of places: London, Berlin, Moscow, Cairo, Jerusalem, Jakarta and Hong Kong. Not many were Trump fans. But we did find a few – and they were in just two places.
“He’s not quiet, and this is what we need. Someone who will do something,” an Israeli man told us from the country’s capital. “I welcome the idea” another Jerusalem citizen said.
More than 3,000 miles away, we found supporters on the frigid streets of Russia’s capital.
“Donald Trump is more pragmatic because he’s a businessman” a Moscow man told CNN, adding that he thinks U.S.-Russia relations would get better if Trump was president. “Trump might change the attitude of Americans towards Russia” echoed another Russian.
Donald Trump is …
We asked people to finish that sentence. People overwhelmingly said “businessman.” “Rich man” and “entertainer” were used a lot, too.
Some people went further.
“Donald Trump is a great businessman, a great speaker – a motivational speaker – and a great reality TV star, but by no means a great politician,” Jeremy Starr Lam in Hong Kong said. Several words people used are not fit for print.
And while his two supporters in Jerusalem both described Trump as “nice,” others just don’t know what to think. Some shrugged or winced. A London woman thought about it and simply said: “I’m at a loss for words.”