Americans’ Opinions Of Canada, Great Britain Are Lower Than Ever

Americans’ views of two of its closest allies, Canada and Great Britain, have decreased significantly in the past year following President Donald Trump’s increasing hostility toward the nations, a new Gallup poll finds.

The poll found 80 percent of Americans view Canada favorably, and 76 percent hold positive opinions of Great Britain, the lowest figures since Gallup started asking this question about Canada in 1987 and Great Britain in 1989. Those numbers represent 11- and 12-point decreases in favorability since last year.

The decreases are driven largely by shrinking approval among Republicans; positive opinions of Canada among Republicans dropped by 23 points, and favorable views of Great Britain among GOP voters dropped by 20 points. The number of Democrats who favorably view Canada increased by 3 points, while those who viewed Great Britain favorably decreased by 4 points.

Trump has spent much of his first 14 months in office needling longtime allies. Recently, Trump has been antagonistic toward British Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid the war in Iran. After Britain offered restrained support for U.S.-Israeli joint airstrikes in Iran and initially resisted allowing the U.S. to use British bases for certain strikes, Trump attacked Starmer’s leadership.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” he told reporters earlier in March.

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have been at odds since Carney’s election last year. Trump has sought to impose tariffs on Canada and regularly refers to America’s northern neighbor as its “51st state.” In response to Trump escalating friction with Western allies, including by calling for the U.S. to annex Greenland from Denmark, Carney reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to NATO and supported Greenland’s autonomy.

The poll found growing favorability among Americans for China — despite the trade war between the two global superpowers that raged for the better part of last year — although the country still remains deeply unpopular. Thirty-four percent of Americans have a favorable view of China — more than double the number of Americans who had a favorable view three years ago.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced a series of trade agreements in October, putting a pause to tariffs. Trump is expected to visit China later this month.

The survey found that Americans have the most favorable opinions of Japan and Italy, while holding the least favorable views of three nations in conflict with traditional U.S. allies: Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The poll was conducted by telephone interviews from Feb. 2-16 with a random sample of 1,001 American adults. It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points, with a larger margin for subgroups.