Two in three Britons feel unfavourable towards Donald Trump

• Two in three Britons feel unfavourable towards Donald Trump
• Half think the US President’s actions have weakened the ‘special relationship’

Two-thirds (68%) of the British public have an unfavourable opinion of US President Donald Trump, according to the latest Ipsos Political Monitor. With fieldwork one week after his visit to the UK, the new poll reveals that just one in five (19%) have a favourable opinion, one in nine (11%) say they see him as neither favourable nor unfavourable, but half (52%) feel very unfavourable towards him.

Women are more likely to feel unfavourable towards the President than men (75% vs. 60% respectively) as are young people – three-quarters (76%) of 18-34s are also negative compared with 64% of 35-54s and 65% of people ages 55 and above.  Labour supporters are especially unfavourable (by 82% to 12%), while Conservative supporters are also negative (by a margin of 61% to 23%).  However, although the figures are not positive for the President they are not as poor as when last asked in October 2016 when 7% were favourable towards Mr Trump and 84% unfavourable.

When asked if Britain will be more or less secure against its enemies in the future as a result of the way Donald Trump is doing his job as President, 44% said less secure while 43% said he has made no difference – just one in ten (10%) said more secure.

When it comes to the British/American special relationship just over half (53%) think that it has become weaker as a result of the way Donald Trump is doing his job as President with 38% saying he has made no difference – 6% said that it has become stronger. There is some difference across party lines with three in five (61%) of Labour supporters saying the special relationship has become weaker (31% say no difference) while Conservatives are split between it becoming weaker (49%) and making no difference (46%).  Graduates (59%) and those in social class AB (62%) are also more likely to think he has damaged the special relationship.

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos, said:

Donald Trump is actually a bit less unpopular among Brits than two years ago, but the intensity of feeling among his critics is still strong, particularly among groups such as women, graduates, and young people – and despite his recent visit to Britain half think his actions are making the US-UK relationship that little bit less special.

Technical Note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,023 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 20th – 24th July 2018.  Data are weighted to the profile of the population.