Australians’ trust in the United States drops to a new low and Albanese leads Dutton on foreign policy

Australians’ trust in the United States has fallen significantly since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president, a preview of the 2025 Lowy Institute Poll has revealed.

The poll shows Australians’ trust in the United States to act responsibly dropped by 20 points since 2024, with only 36% of the public expressing any level of trust — a new low in the Lowy Institute Poll’s two-decade history.

Yet despite a significant loss of trust in the United States, the vast majority of Australians (80%) continue to say the alliance is important for Australia’s security.

The poll shows Australians overwhelmingly disapprove of Mr Trump’s policies to annex Greenland (89% disapprove) as well as his use of tariffs to pressure countries to comply with his demands (81%).

Three-quarters of Australians disapprove of the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change (74%), and Mr Trump’s attempts to negotiate a deal on Ukraine with Vladimir Putin (74%). The public are divided on Mr Trump’s demand that allies spend more on defence.

Closer to home, and with a federal election nearing, 41% of respondents said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would be more competent at handling Australian foreign policy, compared with 29% who said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would be better.

Australians are evenly split on whether Anthony Albanese (34%) or Peter Dutton (35%) would be better at managing the relationship with the United States and President Trump.

However, Mr Albanese enjoys a 20-point lead over Mr Dutton on who would be better at dealing with China and President Xi Jinping.

“Given President Donald Trump’s norm-shattering approach to his second term, it’s no surprise that Australians are less trusting of the United States,” said the Lowy Institute’s Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Ryan Neelam.

“But Australians continue to show that they still separate the unpredictability of the White House from the role the alliance plays in our security.”

The poll was conducted from 3–16 March 2025 on a sample of 2,117 adults across Australia, with a margin of error of approximately 2.1%.

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