{"id":945455,"date":"2026-10-29T18:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945455\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:38:12","slug":"australia-us-america-growingly-seen-as-threat-by-australians-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945455\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia-US: America growingly seen as \u2018threat\u2019 by Australians: survey"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 40 per cent of Australians consider the United States<\/a> to be a \u201cthreat\u201d, and put more trust in neighbouring nations than longtime allies, according to a new poll.<\/p>\n

Only half of the Aussies canvassed in a YouGov survey, commissioned by the Australia Institute think tank, regarded historic ally America a \u201cfriend\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese meet on the sidelines at the UN.\u00a0Instagram<\/p>\n

From the 1100 voters surveyed, 42 per cent viewed the US as a \u201cthreat\u201d. <\/p>\n

The question put to them defined a \u201cthreatening country\u201d as one perceived with suspicion or caution.<\/p>\n

The research, released on Thursday, also reveals two-thirds of One Nation<\/a> voters see the US as a friend, with the Coalition<\/a> closely trailing.<\/p>\n

Labor<\/a> voters are largely divided about the global superpower.<\/p>\n

In contrast to how the US is regarded, virtually all Australians (97 per cent) perceive New Zealand to be a friend.<\/p>\n

Regional neighbour Indonesia was rated ahead of the US by 14 per cent in the friend category. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

Australians were also wary about other world powers, with 42 per cent regarding Russia as a threat, and 36 per cent perceiving China as one.<\/p>\n

The research comes almost two years since Donald Trump was elected US president for a second term.<\/p>\n

Since then, Australia and other traditional US allies have been the target of trade tariffs and upbraidings by Trump administration officials to hike defence spending.<\/p>\n

Australia has also been criticised by the US government for a perceived lack of support in the Iran war, while its stance on social media regulation has also been a thorny issue in Canberra-Washington relations.<\/p>\n

The director of the Australia Institute\u2019s international and security affairs program, Emma Shortis, says the new poll shows Australian politicians and the public have starkly varying views about the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians can see the Trump administration for what it is. These numbers reflect a global shift \u2013 the rest of the world is re-ordering itself in response. It\u2019s time the Australian government adjusted its focus too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese numbers highlight the huge disconnect in Australian foreign policy. Most Australians no longer trust the United States. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur government, on the other hand, is behaving as if nothing has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 40 per cent of Australians consider the United States to be a \u201cthreat\u201d, and put more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-945455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}