The Rest is Politics and Ipsos: Three in five Americans tuned out to British domestic news

Of the findings, Keiran Pedley, Research Director, said:

Our research for Andy and Rory is a further reminder that as Britain navigates its post-Brexit identity, our closest ally – the American public – is more focused on their own domestic challenges alongside their own political fault lines and economic pressures.

On the upside, despite both Brits and Americans being split on whether each other’s countries would be better or worse off if they were more like each other, when it comes to separate research we have found that almost 7 in 10 Americans say[KP1.1] that they expect Britain to be a positive influence in the world – alongside Canada, France and Japan.

Prime Minister, who?
A significant majority of the American public is disengaged from British news, with little awareness of major political transitions in Westminster including 7 Prime Ministers in the last decade. 

• 59% of Americans say they have consumed not that much or nothing at all about Great Britain in the media over the past year, while only 38% have heard a great deal (8%) or a fair amount (30%).
• Among Americans who have noticed British news, political faultlines in the states seemingly does influences their perception; 38% of Republican supporters think Great Britain has been portrayed negatively, compared to just 19% of Democrat supporters.
• Just 3 in 10 US adults (30%) knew that Keir Starmer was the current British Prime Minister, while the majority 56% said they were completely unsure.

Pedley added:

Three in five Americans are tuned out of British affairs entirely, a disconnect underscored by the fact that only thirty per cent can name Keir Starmer as the Prime Minister. 

With the frequent change at the top, and 7 Prime Minister’s in the last 10 years, it is not surprising to find Americans find the names hard to place.

On the issues: “It’s the economy, stupid”
When evaluating the key challenges facing each nation, US adults and British adults view crises through different lenses, though they share a pessimistic view of both American and British domestic social cohesion.

• 1 in 3 US adults (23%) think immigration is the top issue facing Great Britain, followed by immigration on 21%, whereas they consider inflation and prices (49%) to be the primary crisis impacting the United States. 
• Political party lines dictate how Americans view British struggles; 36% of Republicans consider immigration the biggest issue facing Britain, while Democrats see the economy (26%) and relations with the EU (20%) as the key issue facing Briton.
• When asked if the two nations would benefit from being more like one another, a majority of British adults (59%) think Great Britain would be worse off if it was more like America.
• Conversely, 45% of American Democrats think the USA would be better off if it were more like Great Britain, while half of Republicans (50%) believe it would be worse off. However, the two populations find common ground on the state of American cohesion.

Pedley concludes:

When Americans do tune into UK politics, they tend to project their own domestic political concerns onto the UK, and there is a split down party lines with Republicans focusing on perceived British immigration concerns and Democrats suggesting “It’s the economy, stupid."

Yet beneath this lack of mutual awareness lies a striking unity in angst felt about our respective societies. Nearly two-thirds of citizens in both the US and Britain view American society as broken, reflecting deep-seated concern about political and institutional stability across the West. 

Notes:

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,146 online US adults aged 18+ between 10–14 July 2026, and a representative sample of 1,138 online British adults aged 18+ between 10–13 July 2026.
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the respective populations. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
• Data relating to the US publics perceptions of Britain’s influence in the world is sourced from Ipsos’ online Global Advisor survey in April 2026 on the Iran war, surveyed between Friday, March 20, and Friday, April 3, 2026. The sample consists of approximately 1,000 US adults aged 18-74.