Most Say Trump Aggressively Pro-American But Worry About West’s Future

Voters agree that President Trump is pushing harder for America than his recent predecessors in the White House but question his relationships with other world leaders. Most also aren’t as optimistic as Trump that the West will survive.

Following his visit to Europe last week, 63% of Likely U.S. Voters think Trump is more aggressive than most recent presidents in pushing what’s best for America. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 21% believe the president is less aggressive, while seven percent (7%) rate his attitude as about the same as that of most recent presidents. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirty-six percent (36%) rate Trump’s relationship with the world leaders he has met or talked with so far as good or excellent. Forty-six percent (46%) characterize that relationship as poor.

In September of last year, by comparison, 44% of voters said President Obama had a good or excellent relationship with most world leaders, while 34% described those relationships as poor.

In a speech last Thursday in Warsaw, Poland, Trump gave a ringing endorsement of the United States and Europe and strongly championed their shared Western values. But only 42% agree with Trump’s statement in the speech that “the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail; our people will thrive, and our civilization will triumph.” Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree, although nearly as many (27%) are undecided.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 6 and 9, 2017 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Trump is the first U.S. president to give his personal telephone number to several other world leaders, encouraging them to call him directly at any time. But 57% of voters think the president should maintain a more traditional telephone arrangement so that all his calls with world leaders can be monitored. 

Voters across the partisan spectrum agree that Trump is more aggressive than most recent presidents in pushing what’s best for America, but Democrats are less convinced than Republicans and unaffiliated voters.

While 61% of GOP voters think Trump has a good or excellent relationship with the world leaders he has met or talked with so far, 72% of Democrats and a plurality (45%) of unaffiliateds believe those relationships are poor instead.

Republicans (61%) are nearly twice as likely as Democrats (31%) and unaffiliated voters (36%) to agree with the president’s statement that “the West will never, ever be broken.”

Seventy-four percent (74%) of voters who Strongly Approve of the job the president is doing agree with the statement, a view shared by only 21% of those who Strongly Disapprove of Trump’s job performance.

Shortly after Trump took office in January, most voters said the new president agreed with them and will put America first on the world stage unlike Obama. 

A survey last year during the presidential campaign found that 60% of all voters agreed with Trump that the United States has not been putting its own interests ahead of others and should reverse course when it comes to foreign policy. 

The president on his first trip to Europe in May criticized NATO member nations for not paying their fair share of the alliance’s military costs and relying on U.S. taxpayers to pick up most of the tab. Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters said in December that the United States should remove its troops from Western Europe if the Europeans refuse to pick up more of the costs of defending themselves.

Most voters welcome Trump’s decision to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) mega-trade deal and agree that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada needs to be reworked.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of voters said in early 2015 that it is important for schools to teach the values of Western civilization, but only 22% think most public schools do a good job teaching those values.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only. 

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