In his first few weeks back in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump made several extraordinary decisions on foreign policy. He threatened to annex Greenland, announced plans to “take over” Gaza, and started to remove the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Paris climate agreement. He also has shuttered the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the government’s main overseas aid agency.
Many of these moves are not very popular with ordinary Americans, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre. It surveyed 3,605 US adults in late March – just before Trump imposed sweeping trade tariffs on countries around the world.
The US should not try to take over Greenland or Gaza, most say
Trump has increased his rhetoric on “getting” Greenland, and Vice-President JD Vance recently took a controversial trip to the Arctic island. But Pew found that most survey respondents (54%) did not think the US should take over the Danish territory. When asked if they think Trump would actually pursue the plan, 23% thought it was extremely likely, but a greater number (34%) said they believed he would not carry through with it.
Trump also proposed an American takeover of the Gaza Strip, resettling two million Palestinians in neighbouring countries with no right of return. This would violate international law and has been described as “tantamount to ethnic cleansing” by the UN. Of those surveyed, 62% of Americans opposed such a move, compared to 15% who favoured it. Opinions were divided as to whether Trump was likely to actually pursue it. Again, the greater number (38%) thought it very or extremely unlikely.
A greater number disapprove of ending USAID and withdrawing from WHO
Trump signed executive orders to remove the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Paris Agreement on climate change, and said USAID largely will be shut down. More Americans disapprove than approve of such moves, the survey suggests – although the results are not a landslide.
Donald Trump in the Oval Office sitting at his desk, looking up.
Trump favours Russia too much, many feel
At the start of his second presidency, Trump said he would “work together, very closely” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine – a very different approach to that of his predecessor, Joe Biden. The Pew research found 43% of respondents thought Trump favoured Russia too much – a higher number than the 31% who said he was striking the right balance between both sides.
Republicans back Trump’s plans
While Pew Research centre is non-partisan, those surveyed were not. The results showed that most of the respondents (64%) who described themselves as Republican – or Republican-leaning – supported the move by the Republican president to end USAID, for example. That compared to just 9% of opposing Democrats – or Democratic-leaning – respondents who felt the same way, indicating a high level of polarisation.
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