A quarter of UK voters would prefer to see Donald Trump win the US presidency this year rather than Joe Biden, a poll for i has revealed.
A victory for the controversial former US president would be seen as more preferable to Britain than a second term for President Biden, according to 24 per cent of the public, the BMG Research survey shows.
While most voters – 45 per cent – believe President Biden staying in office represents a better prospect for the UK, it is striking that one in four want to see President Trump back in the White House.
Some 20 per cent of Labour voters and 31 per cent of Conservative voters would prefer a Trump victory.
Support for President Biden is highest among Labour voters, who back him to win a second term by 59 per cent, compared to 40 per cent of Tory voters.
But nearly a third of all voters say they do not know who would represent the better prospect for UK interests.
Leading defence and diplomatic figures have warned that a victory for Mr Trump in November would destabilise efforts to contain the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
But the poll suggests some UK voters are starting to think he may be better in the White House if tensions continue to escalate.
The British public is more likely to think that a President Trump victory would have a negative rather than a positive impact on global issues, including the UK’s relationship with the US, and tend to think President Biden would have a marginally positive impact.
However, Mr Trump’s rating on this question has improved slightly since he left office in 2021, particularly on the issues of climate change and world peace – although he is still in negative territory.
And the British public are much less positive about President Biden’s impact on global issues than they were four years ago.
On the issue of climate change, Mr Trump scores – 30 per cent in terms of impact, but this figure has improved by 10 percentage points since 2020.
President Biden has a net impact rating of 9 per cent on climate change, although this has fallen by 18 points over the same period.
When it comes to world peace and levels of conflict, Mr Trump has a -28 per cent net impact rating, but this has also improved by 10 percentage points since 2020.
President Biden’s net rating on world peace is 0 per cent, which has fallen by 23 points over the four-year period, suggesting the British public are increasingly likely to believe he has not done enough to reduce global conflict.
If Mr Trump does return to the White House, the UK public are most likely to think that neither Rishi Sunak nor Keir Starmer would be best to manage the US-UK relationship (31 per cent), although they are marginally more likely to say that Sir Keir would be better suited than Sunak (24 per cent vs 22 per cent).
BMG research director Robert Struthers said: “With Biden trailing Trump in many head-to-head polls in the US, the current president might wish he could sub the American electorate for the British. Britons prefer Biden by a wide margin, although a quarter of the British public would favour a return of Trump.
“However, comparing data for some of the same questions we asked four years ago, the enthusiasm for Biden in the UK has somewhat waned since their last electoral showdown in 2020.
“Britons still tend to believe Biden would more positively impact climate change, world peace, and UK-US relations than Trump, but the margin of those who share this optimism has noticeably shrunk, with Trump gaining ground on some of these fronts.
“It goes without saying that British voters won’t have any bearing on the outcome of the US election. However, the parallels in public sentiment across the Atlantic are clear.
“Polls of Americans indicate a waning enthusiasm for the current president, with lower trust on issues like peace and conflict, with Trump seen as stronger on these issues. Our polls hint that, while Biden is still preferred, voters outside of the US might be increasingly reaching similar conclusions.”
