A new international poll reveals that voters in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom consider President Donald Trump’s return to power more significant for their countries than recent leadership changes within their own nations.
The findings underscore Trump’s outsized influence on global politics during his second term—particularly across Europe’s largest democracies. The survey found that in Germany, 53% of respondents ranked Trump’s election as more important for the country than the election of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, while only 25% prioritized the German ballot.
In the United Kingdom, 54% of voters stated Trump’s return carried greater weight than Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s victory—which ended 14 years of Conservative rule. French respondents were slightly less decisive, with 43% indicating Trump’s win mattered more than President Emmanuel Macron’s election.
The poll highlights widespread European dissatisfaction with national leaders’ handling of U.S. affairs. Only 24% of Germans believed Chancellor Merz managed relations with Trump effectively, while 34% viewed his approach poorly. In France, President Macron received just 16% approval for his handling of Trump and 39% disapproval.
European Union leadership scored lowest overall, with only 11% of French respondents trusting Brussels to manage Trump’s impact, nearly half rating the EU as performing poorly.
Trump’s blunt criticism of European leaders appears to resonate abroad. A recent interview saw him describe European leaders as “weak,” a view aligning with polling results showing German, French, and British voters consistently rate Trump as more “strong and decisive” than their national leaders. By margins of roughly 3-to-1, respondents across these nations deemed Trump’s leadership more decisive than theirs.
Canada stood out as an exception, with 60% of respondents considering Prime Minister Mark Carney stronger and more decisive than Trump.
The poll surveyed 10,510 adults from December 5 to 9, 2025, with at least 2,000 respondents in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany. Each country’s results carry an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points.
