Nearly half of Britons think Donald Trump would “seriously destabilise the world” and hurt them financially if he wins back the White House, according to a poll released on Monday.
The Focaldata survey of 2,024 people comes with Trump appearing to crush his opponents in the race to win the Republican nomination, and polling ahead of President Joe Biden in the key battleground states that will decide November’s election.
Rival Republicans Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have been intensifying their attacks on each other before the Iowa caucuses start the nominating marathon on January 15, keen to grab second place and hoping the former president gets tripped up by his many legal battles.
Britons are tied 41-41 per cent on whether Trump will actually win again, according to the poll commissioned by strategic advisory firm FGS Global to inform issues facing business in 2024. The property mogul’s defeat by Biden in 2020 started multiple state and federal court fights over his false claims that the election was stolen from him.
But the UK is clear on the likely negative impact. If he gets a second term, 44 per cent think Trump will “seriously destabilise the world”, compared to 18 per cent who think it “won’t make much difference to the rest of the world”.
Fully 46 per cent think their own financial situation and quality of life will be negatively impacted if Trump is elected on November 5, compared with only 16 per cent who believe their situation will be affected positively.
Britain could well be electing a new government around the same time, after Rishi Sunak all but ruled out a spring election.
Two-thirds of respondents in the poll - 67 per cent - expect Labour to win the General Election. Just 16 per cent don’t expect this, while 17 per cent don’t know.
In contrast to a Trump win, 38 per cent expect a Labour victory to have a positive impact on their financial situation and quality of life in the year ahead, versus 31 per cent who say it will have a negative impact.
“Despite the fact that the UK itself goes to the polls this year, the British public’s greatest fear appears to be around what could happen in the US,” commented Sir Craig Oliver, a former No10 director of communications who is head of strategy and reputation at FGS Global.
“Nearly half of people think that if Donald Trump is elected president again in 2024, this would seriously destabilise the world,” he told the Standard.
Analysts say there is mounting nervousness at the prospect of Trump upending the world economy and political alliances by defunding NATO, allowing Vladmir Putin to win in Ukraine, further destabilising the Middle East and failing to support Taiwan against China.
The findings underline Trump’s enduring unpopularity in Britain. Tens of thousands took to the streets of London when he came on presidential visits in 2018 and 2019, flying a 20-foot orange blimp effigy both times.
