SYDNEY, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A majority of Australians, Japanese and Indians believe U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term has been bad for their countries, and more Australians see the U.S. as harmful than helpful in Asia, a survey of people in the four countries reported on Thursday.
A poll of 1,000 people in each of the Quad diplomatic group countries of Australia, Japan, India and the U.S. by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney found a region shaken by disruptive developments in the U.S. but still supporting coordinated responses to security challenges.
The poll, taken in August, found 56% of Australians, 54% of Indians and 59% of Japanese think Trump’s presidency has been bad for their countries.
Only 42% of Australians said the U.S. alliance made their country more secure, a 14-point decrease since 2024 and
the first time support has dropped below a majority since
the centre’s polling began in 2022.
The number of Japanese respondents who said the U.S. alliance made them more secure fell by 5 percentage points from a year ago to only 47%.
“All four countries are deeply concerned about domestic
political violence and misinformation in the United States, and Australians and Indians are more likely to see the United States as harmful rather than helpful in Asia,” the report said.
Support for maintaining alliances with the United States continued nonetheless, it found.
Negative perceptions of China persisted from previous surveys, with more Australian (48%), American (40%), Japanese (58%), and Indian (46%) respondents viewing China as harmful rather than helpful in Asia.
Japanese respondents were the most likely to say their
country’s handling of China is too weak (59%), the survey found.
On AUKUS, although the survey found support across the four countries for the nuclear-powered submarine partnership between Australia, Britain and the U.S., it noted only a quarter (27%) of Australians think their government has properly explained why Australia needs the submarines.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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