Ahead of King Charles III’s state visit to US, Britons’ belief in the special relationship fall to new low.

•    Almost half (48%) of Britons disagree that there is currently a special relationship between the US and Britain, up 7ppts since March, 15ppts from January.
•    Britons are split on whether King Charles III’s state visit should go ahead.
•    Four in ten (41%) think the state visit will not make a difference to the relationship Britain has with the US. A third (34%) think it will have a positive impact.

London, UK. New polling data from Ipsos in the UK, carried out 17-21 April 2026 (before the attack at the White House correspondents’ dinner), explores British public attitudes towards King Charles III’s upcoming state visit to the US.

Attitudes towards the special relationship

•    48% of Britons disagree that there is currently a special relationship between the US and Britain. This is up 7 percentage points from March and 15 ppts from January. This means pessimism about the special relationship has almost doubled since last September, and is even higher than last April after the imposition of US tariffs. 
•    Likewise, just 23% of Britons think that there is a special relationship (-6 ppts from March, -12ppts from January) and is slightly less than half the high point of 51% recorded in January 2021.

King Charles’ state visit to the US

•    Britons are split on whether King Charles’ upcoming state visit to the US should take place (asked before the recent attack at the White House correspondents’ dinner). 42% of Britons think it should go ahead, whilst 43% think it should not go ahead.  2024 Conservative (55%) and Reform UK voters (70%) are more in favour of the visit than 2024 Labour voters (39%).
•    Four in ten Britons (41%) think that the state visit will not make a difference to the relationship between Britain and the US. However a third of Britons (34%) think it will have a positive impact (including around half of 2024 Conservative and Reform UK voters), while only one in ten (10%) think it will have a negative impact.

Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, Senior Director of UK Politics at Ipsos said:

British attitudes towards the relationship with the US have seen significant fluctuation over the last 12 months, but since the start of the Iran conflict belief in the special relationship has deteriorated rapidly to a new low – even worse than after the imposition of tariffs by President Trump early last year. 

Against this backdrop public opinion towards King Charles’ state visit is split, with as many in favour as against.  This may partly reflect uncertainty over its likely impact, with 4 in 10 believing that it will make little difference to the state of the US-UK relationship.  Having said that, very few think it will have a clearly negative effect, and 1 in 3 are more hopeful – especially among Conservative and Reform UK voters who are more supportive of the visit in the first place.  The question then remains open whether this state visit will have a more long-lasting positive impact on public perceptions of the US-UK relationship than when President Trump made his visit to the UK last September.

Notes to Editors: 

•    For media queries, please contact [email protected] 
•    For the full findings, please visit the Ipsos website. 
•    Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,072 adults aged 18-75 across Great Britain. Polling was conducted online between 17-21 April 2026. 
•    Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.