More than 2 in 5 Britons think UK 'too close' to US and should distance itself from Donald Trump

Marcus Donaldson
Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:48:54 +0000

More than two in five Britons believe the UK is “too close” to the US and should distance itself from President Donald Trump, fresh data has revealed.

The latest findings from YouGov saw 43 per cent of respondents backing a cooling of relations with Washington in favour of closer ties with the European Union.

It represented a major shift in public opinion, a 9 per cent jump compared to when the same question was posed in April last year.

Only 18 per cent of Britons expressed a desire for closer Anglo-American ties.

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Roughly three in ten voters considered the current state of relations appropriate, whilst one in ten remained undecided.

The survey also uncovered widespread doubt about the notion of a "special relationship" between Britain and the United States.

Six in ten respondents said this special geopolitical bond existed in the past but no longer exists, whilst only 14 per cent maintained it still exists.

This scepticism spanned all age groups, with older voters proving equally doubtful as their younger counterparts.

On the broader question of how Britain should navigate its relationship with Washington, voters expressed a clear preference for maintaining national sovereignty.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 65 per cent, said preserving policy independence and British values should take priority, even if doing so risked damaging the alliance with America.

By comparison, just 13 per cent took the opposing view that safeguarding the transatlantic partnership was more important, even when this meant occasionally pursuing policies at odds with the nation's principles.

Public sentiment towards Europe stands in marked contrast, with 57 per cent of those surveyed favouring stronger alliances with Brussels.

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Just 12 per cent said they would prefer a greater distance from the bloc, according to the study commissioned by The Times.

The cooling of relations between the British public and the United States comes amid the war with Iran.

Previous YouGov polling found that one in three Britons reported being personally affected by the conflict, with 69 per cent citing spiralling fuel prices.

A further 11 per cent pointed to higher energy prices as a serious concern.

Polling conducted in the early phases of the war found the public effectively split in half on allowing the US to use British bases to launch sorties against the Islamic Republic.

On the conflict in general, 59 per cent of Britons said they opposed hostilities when asked on March 9.

As for President Trump himself, the US leader remains broadly unpopular in the UK.

YouGov’s tracker places him at just 23 per cent approval.