A new poll conducted for The Australia Institute reveals that more than half of Australian voters believe Donald Trump is a greater threat to global security than Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The YouGov poll of 1502 people found more than more than twice as many (59%) Australians now believe Australia’s interests are better served by a more independent foreign policy rather than a closer alliance with the United States (23%). Just one in eight (13%) Australians believe the US is a “very reliable” security ally.
The poll shows a further erosion of confidence in the US under President Trump. A year ago, a similar poll found that 31% of Australians believed Trump was a greater threat to world peace than Putin (27%) and Xi (27%).
Now, 52% feel that Trump is a bigger threat than Putin (17%) and Xi (16%).
Key findings:
More One Nation voters (35%) believe Trump is a bigger threat to world peace than Putin (18%), and about the same number think Xi is the biggest threat (32%).
One third (33%) of Australians now believe the AUKUS security agreement is not in Australia’s best interests.
68% of Australians, including 53% of One Nation voters, oppose Australia’s involvement in the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
What? Why is that so low? It never was in our best interests! The deal meant the only submarines we were getting were up the arse, but at least we had the privilege of paying billions of dollars for them!
That’s gonna annoy the regressive media and warhawks in Canberra. They’ve been trying and trying and trying to stoke China as the Big Bad for ages. The Immediate Threat! Why We Need to Stay With America, Our Strongest, Bestest Ally!
In reality, China is our biggest trading partner (2025 ABS China: $325.8b total trade; Exports $195.6b, Imports $130.2b). They’ll get more from us through business arrangements and trade than any sort of invasion (and it happens to work out pretty well for us, too). Additionally, China hasn’t invaded any western countries … ever!
Ev-er!
I’m not painting them as paragons, but they’re far from the Oh, God Hide Under The Bed Threat to Democracy the western warmongers (whose primary goal is making money from weapons manufacturing/sales) make them out to be.