More Americans than not hold either uncertain or negative views of President Donald Trump‚s moves to upend traditional U.S. foreign policy, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
The survey was published by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, which describes itself as a nonpartisan „fact tank.“ The findings come almost three months into Trump’s second term and appear to be among the first assessments that attempt to provide a broad picture of how Americans specifically view his international policies.
Trump has pursued a very different foreign policy than former President Joe Biden. He has withdrawn the U.S. from international agreements such as the Paris climate accord and ended many foreign aid programs. He has sought to work closely with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, talked openly about taking over foreign territories such as Greenland and the Gaza Strip, and imposed tariffs on longstanding U.S. trading partners.
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Among the survey’s findings:
◾More Americans „disapprove“ than „approve“ of Trump’s decision to leave the World Health Organization (45% vs. 35%), exit the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement (46% vs. 32%) and end most U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs (52% vs. 32%).
◾Many Americans don’t believe that Trump is striking a „balanced“ approach to mediating between Russia and Ukraine as part of efforts to end that three-year-old conflict. A „plurality,“ (43% vs. 31%), according to Pew’s survey, believe that Trump is „favoring Russia too much,“ while 22% said they are not sure. Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being insufficiently thankful for U.S. financial and military support during a meeting in the Oval Office in March.
◾American public opinion was more mixed on whether Trump is being fair to both Israelis and Palestinians in the context of their conflict in the Middle East. The surveyed showed that they see him as favoring Israelis by 31% to 29%, with 37% unsure and 3% saying he’s favoring the Palestinians too much. During a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking over Gaza and resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
The survey also took the measure of another key Trump foreign policy: tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
A majority of Americans surveyed said Trump’s levies on China, in particular, will be bad for the U.S. (52%) and bad for them personally (53%), with 19% and 20% unsure, respectively. However, the survey predated Trump’s announcement of widespread global tariffs – including further tariffs on China and its retaliatory response.
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Even so, Pew’s findings revealed that Americans are about five times as likely to say that increased U.S. tariffs on China will be bad for them as they are to say that the tariffs will be beneficial.
Pew surveyed 3,605 U.S. adults from March 24 to 30. The survey, it said, was weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. The surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
Multiple polls published over the last week found that less than half of Americans approved of the president, with most pointing to Trump’s handling of the economy as the reason for their gripes.
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Among the Pew’s survey’s other findings:
◾By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans oppose rather than favor the U.S. taking over Greenland (53% vs. 23%) and Gaza (62% vs. 15%).
◾Older adults (50-plus) were more likely to approve of Trump’s foreign policy actions than younger ones.
◾Roughly 1 in 5 Americans are uncertain about the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs on China, both on the country and their own lives.
From Ukraine to tariffs: New poll examines what Americans think of Trump's foreign policy – USA Today
