Half of Europeans see Trump as enemy of Europe, survey finds | Europe

According to a survey, almost half of Europeans see Donald Trump as the “enemy of Europe”, more rate the risk of war with Russia as high, and more than two-thirds believe their country will not be able to defend itself in the event of such a war.

Nine-country survey for Paris-based European affairs discussion platform Le Great Continent It also found that nearly three-quarters of respondents want their country to remain in the EU, and almost as many say leaving the union would harm the UK.

Jean-Yves Dormagen, professor of political science and founder of the Cluster17 polling agency, said: “Europe not only faces increasing risks, but is also undergoing a transformation in its historical, geopolitical and political environment. [of the survey] It depicts a Europe that is anxious, deeply aware of its vulnerabilities and striving to project itself positively into the future.”

The poll found that an average of 48% of people in nine countries see Trump as an open enemy; these rates range from as high as 62% in Belgium and 57% in France to as low as 37% in Croatia and 19% in Poland.

“Across the continent, Trumpism is clearly recognized as a hostile force,” Dormagen said, adding that this perception has hardened, with fewer people describing Trump as “neither friend nor foe” compared to December 2024, and more definitely hostile.

But Europeans still see relations with the US as strategically important: When asked what stance the EU should take towards the US government, the most popular option (48%) was compromise.

In the survey conducted in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Croatia, Belgium and the Netherlands, a relative majority (51%) thought that the risk of open war with Russia in the coming years was high, while 18% considered it very high.

Dormagen said such an outcome “was unthinkable just a few years ago and signals that European opinion is shifting towards a new geopolitical regime in which the possibility of direct conflict on the continent is now widely accepted.”

Opinions varied widely depending on proximity to Russia; In Poland, 77% of respondents thought the risk of war was high, compared to 54% in France, 51% in Germany, 39% in Portugal and 34% in Italy.

The survey found that confidence in national military capabilities is low everywhere; 69% of survey respondents in nine countries said they thought their country was “not actually” or “at all” capable of defending itself against Russian aggression.

French participants were the most confident group, but this opinion remained in the minority with 44%. In Poland, which borders Russia, this rate was not 58%. Dormagen said: “We are entering an age of danger while feeling a constant sense of national weakness.”

The survey found that feelings of vulnerability were widely shared, with only 12% of respondents saying they did not feel particularly threatened by a range of sources of insecurity, ranging from technological and military to energy and food.

Although there were significant national differences, the most frequently cited threat was technology and digital security (28%), followed by military security (25%). There was strong demand for European help, with 69% of people saying the EU should play a protective role.

The vast majority of respondents in nine countries support EU membership: 74% said they want their country to remain in the bloc; This view was highest in Portugal (90%) and Spain (89%) and lowest in Poland (68%) and France (61%).

Five years after Brexit, the UK’s decision to leave is overwhelmingly seen as a failure: 63% believed it had a negative impact on Britain and only 19% thought it was positive; 5% stated that they found this very positive.