Americans are becoming less positive about India, with unfavourable views of the country now outnumbering favourable ones for the first time in Pew Research Center’s tracking.
According to Pew’s Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey, 45% of US adults said they have a favourable opinion of India, while 50% expressed an unfavourable view. The latest figures rank among the weakest ratings recorded since Pew began measuring American attitudes toward India in 2008.
The shift marks a notable change from recent years. In 2023, 51% of Americans viewed India positively. That share slipped to 49% in 2025 and fell another four percentage points in 2026.
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Pew highlighted the decline in a post on X, noting that the latest ratings are “some of the lowest since 2008, when we began asking this question.”
The survey, conducted across 36 countries, included 42,092 adults and also found that Americans’ views of India vary significantly depending on political affiliation and age.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents to hold a favourable opinion of India. About 50% of Democrats viewed India positively, compared with 42% of Republicans.
The ideological divide was even more pronounced. Among liberal Americans, 54% expressed a favourable view of India, while the figure dropped to 40% among conservatives.
Age also emerged as a factor in how Americans perceive India. Half of respondents aged 65 and older viewed India favourably, making them the most positive age group in the survey. Among Americans between 18 and 29, the share stood at 42%.
India’s image remains somewhat more positive when viewed globally. Across the 36 countries included in the survey, a median of 45% of respondents said they had a favourable opinion of India, compared with 41% who held an unfavourable view.
Some countries recorded significantly stronger views of India. Sri Lanka had the highest favourable rating at 79%, followed by Kenya and the UK, both at 71%. Germany also registered a comparatively positive assessment of India.
At the same time, India has seen its favourable ratings weaken in several countries. South Korea, Turkey and Bangladesh were among the countries where positive views have declined in recent years.
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The Pew survey also examined how Americans see India’s role on the global stage. A majority of U.S. respondents, 54%, said they believe India’s influence in world affairs has remained about the same in recent years. Another 30% said they believe India has become more influential.
The findings point to a growing gap between India’s overall international image and how it is viewed by the American public. While India continues to receive broadly positive ratings across much of the world, its standing among Americans has weakened considerably compared with just a few years ago.