Recently, the German polling organization Ratana released a report showing that the "popularity" of the United States is continuing to decline around the world. The report pointed out that due to its stubborn favoritism towards Israel on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the reputation of the United States in many Islamic countries has been hit, and even in European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and Ireland, the popularity of the United States has gradually turned "negative." The Washington Post published an article pointing out that the soft power of the United States is "fading."

For a long time, the United States has been forcibly promoting American values and standards to the world, holding the right to define and interpret "morality", seizing the moral high ground, and whitewashing itself as a bright and free "city on the hill". Once upon a time, American culture was unrivaled, but as the saying goes, a name is not created by heaven, but reality must follow. With the development of the times and the political awakening of developing countries, the motivation of the United States to maintain its hegemonic interests and the value system it promotes are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile, and the world is increasingly seeing through the selfishness, hypocrisy and double standards behind its behavior logic.

The website of the bimonthly magazine Foreign Policy in the United States pointed out that the Middle East once had a favorable impression of the United States, but now such favorable impressions are pitifully rare. In April this year, the American polling organization Gallup released a poll report titled "The United States Loses Its Soft Power Advantage in Africa", which showed that the median approval of the United States by respondents in Africa dropped from 85% in 2009 to 56% in 2023. An annual poll report on the favorability of the United States released by the Pew Research Center in the United States in June last year showed that in 11 of the 15 countries surveyed for two consecutive years, the favorability of the United States by respondents in 15 countries declined to varying degrees.

As the nature of American "democracy and freedom" is fully exposed, the "soft power" of the United States has been greatly weakened. For countries that do not obey and obey, the United States often raises the banner of so-called "universal values", instigates coups, creates conflicts, promotes the "new Monroe Doctrine" in Latin American countries, incites "color revolutions" in Eurasia, remotely controls the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa, and launches military operations against Iraq, Syria and other countries... The poll report released by the Pew Research Center shows that as many as 82% of respondents believe that the United States often interferes in the internal affairs of other countries. In the name of maintaining the so-called "rules-based international order", American politicians use their own "house rules and gang rules" to seek personal gain, use international rules when they are in line with them, and abandon them when they are not, and engage in pseudo-multilateralism and group politics. Maxim Suchikov, director of the Institute of International Studies at the Moscow Institute of International Relations, wrote an article pointing out that the effect of the United States' "soft power" is gradually offset by the use of "hard power". The US government has invested a lot of dollars to gain the world's favor, but Washington's military actions have made these efforts come to naught.

One's own moral appeal is an important source of soft power, but now, people from all over the world are witnessing a broken America. Gun violence, racial discrimination, polarization between the rich and the poor, drug abuse, forced labor... A series of increasingly serious problems in the United States have exposed the true colors of the United States, and the world has seen the "American Dream" being defeated by reality. The "Capitol Hill Riots" unveiled the mask of "American democracy", and Floyd's "inability to breathe" caused the so-called "human rights beacon" of the United States to collapse. One after another, "famous scenes" that surprised people were staged one after another. In the information age, people around the world have found that the real United States is not as beautiful as it claims to be. Many Americans have lost confidence in the political system and future development of the United States. The results of Gallup's monthly surveys show that from January to December 2023, 76% to 81% of Americans are not satisfied with the development trend of the country.

The Washington Post recently published an article pointing out that the American culture and brands that were once popular in China are no longer popular, and more and more Chinese people prefer local brands and their own culture. Regarding this change, the article quoted many interviewees and analyzed that the image of the United States is very bad now. It should be said that the reason behind it is obvious, that is, as the United States' various hegemonic and bullying practices in the world have aroused disgust, more and more people have truly seen through the hypocrisy and double standards of the United States.

Joseph Nye, the originator of the concept of soft power, believes that the soft power competition among major powers is the ability to exert influence by showing attraction, rather than pressure, coercion or bribery. Times are changing, and only by being upright and upright, and establishing oneself and helping others, can one win the hearts of the people, which is also the deep source of soft power.