United States Studies Centre poll reveals Australia’s fears about Donald Trump

A new poll has found most Australians think Donald Trump should be barred from returning to power – and that it would be bad news for our country if he does defeat Kamala Harris.

Australians overwhelmingly believe Donald Trump should not be able to return to power because he is a convicted felon, and that it would be bad news for our country if he does.

Two months out from the US election, new polling reveals that Australians would also be concerned about outbreaks of international conflict and the state of US democracy if the former president was re-elected.

But only one in four believe Mr Trump’s return should prompt Australia to withdraw from its alliance with the US, according to the survey commissioned by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

The poll also shows widespread support for the AUKUS pact among Australians – despite concerns about the cost and a belief that it locks Australia into supporting the US in an armed conflict – with Mr Trump’s American supporters similarly in favour of the agreement.

Former president Donald Trump is neck-and-neck with Vice President Kamala Harris in the election race. Picture: Getty

The USSC survey was conducted by YouGov in June, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Just one in four Australians said they did not think Mr Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money trial should disqualify him from returning to the White House. He is due to be sentenced later this month.

“Australians have not exactly been a big fan of Trump for a while,” USSC research director Jared Mondschein said.

“That said, I think Australians can also see that the US alliance is more than just one guy in the White House.”

“In my view, I think no country fared better than Australia under the first Trump administration. That doesn’t mean that things are going to be easy for Australia … but on the whole, I think Australia fares well regardless of the election outcome.”

According to the poll, 25 per cent of Australians said a second Trump administration would be very bad for their country and 20 per cent said it would be bad, compared to just 23 per cent who thought it would be good for Australia.

Some 55 per cent of Australians believed the US alliance made their country more secure, down from 63 per cent two years ago, as they condemned China for being more harmful than helpful in Asia and pushed the Australian government to respond more aggressively.

The poll showed 37 per cent believed Australia was handling China appropriately and another 37 per cent thought the government’s current approach was too weak, although Australians were evenly split on whether our soldiers should be deployed to defend Taiwan.

On AUKUS, just 19 per cent of Australians said it was a bad idea for the country to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, compared to 16 per cent of Americans who were also polled.

But 52 per cent of Australians believed the pact locked us in to supporting the US in conflict.

The USSC survey also revealed almost two-thirds of Australians supported prioritising domestic manufacturing even if it made goods more expensive, as opposed to prioritising free trade even if it led to fewer jobs.

A similarly strong majority backed the need to regulate artificial intelligence even if doing so slowed innovation, while one in two Australians backed outlawing disinformation regardless of the impact on freedom of speech.

About seven out of ten people surveyed said social media companies that failed to stop the spread of disinformation should be punished, with widespread doubts about whether they would manage the issue themselves.

Originally published as United States Studies Centre poll reveals Australia’s fears about Donald Trump