7 in 10 Britons hold unfavourable opinion of Donald Trump

• Around 1 in 7 hold favourable opinion of former US president.
• Britons also more than twice as unfavourable towards President Biden as favourable.

The latest Ipsos Political Pulse, conducted online between the 12th and 14th of January asked the public whether they had favourable or unfavourable opinions of US President Joe Biden and former US President Donald Trump. Britons hold net negative opinions of Biden but are much more unfavourable towards Donald Trump.

Favourability towards Biden and Trump

• Overall, 14% are favourable towards Donald Trump and 71% are unfavourable, including 83% of 2019 Labour voters, 83% of Remain voters, two-thirds of 2019 Conservative voters (67%) and 65% of Leave voters.
• 20% are favourable towards current US President Joe Biden, with 43% unfavourable.  Both 2019 Labour voters (28% favourable, 41% unfavourable) and Remain voters (24% favourable, 37% unfavourable) are net negative. Half (50%) of 2019 Conservatives and 52% of Leave voters also hold unfavourable opinions.

Is Biden becoming less popular in Britain?

Looking at similar polling by Ipsos conducted in 2020 gives us some insight into how attitudes have and have not changed. The two polls are not directly comparable, as the 2020 research was conducted on the telephone and the latest research was conducted online, but a broad pattern emerges.  Donald Trump has received high unfavourable scores in Britain for some time, and that continues in this most recent polling. However, it seems as if perceptions of Joe Biden may have worsened.  In 2020, positive views for Biden (and for Hillary Clinton before him) outweighed negative views, but now Britons are more likely to be unfavourable than favourable (although, it should be said this is partially driven by more respondents having no opinion in 2020 than today).

Ipsos Director of Politics Keiran Pedley said of the findings

These findings suggest the spectre of Trump may hang over an autumn General Election in the UK. Despite recent comments of support from leading politicians here in the UK, this is not reflected amongst the public, with seven in ten Britons unfavourable towards the former U.S. President.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,087 GB adults aged 18+. Interviews were conducted online from 12th to 14th January 2024.  Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.