7 in 10 Scots hold unfavourable opinion of Donald Trump and Elon Musk

A new Ipsos Scotland Political Pulse survey, taken between 21st and 26th February, finds that 71% of the Scottish public hold an unfavourable opinion of US President Donald Trump. Just 18% hold a favourable opinion of him. A similar proportion – 70% - have an unfavourable view of Elon Musk, although fewer Scots are favourable towards Musk (12%) than towards Trump.

Findings indicate that Trump is less popular among the Scottish public than he is among the British public overall. Previous Ipsos polling among the British public taken between 7th and 11th February found that 57% of the British public hold an unfavourable view of Trump - 14 percentage points lower than in Ipsos’ poll of the Scottish public. And while 25% of Britons have a favourable opinion of Trump, just 18% of Scots view him favourably.

Young people in Scotland are more favourable towards Trump than older people are. Among those aged 16-34, 27% view Trump favourably while twice as many (56%) have an unfavourable opinion of him. Among those aged 55+, just 11% have a favourable opinion of Trump, while 81% have an unfavourable opinion of him.

Emily Gray, Managing Director of Ipsos Scotland, said:

These findings show that the Scottish public hold a broadly unfavourable opinion of Donald Trump – even more so than the British public overall do. While Donald Trump has said he accepts King Charles’ invitation to meet at either Dumfries House or Balmoral Castle to discuss a second state visit to the UK, these results suggest that his visit will not be a welcome prospect for many in Scotland.

Technical note: 

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,025 adults aged 16+ across Scotland. Interviews were conducted online between 21st-26th February 2025. 
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the offline population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
•  Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” categories.