‘Frosty on Trump': Australians eager for more independence from the US
The latest Resolve Political Monitor survey of more than 2300 people, conducted for this masthead, found that most Australians continue to have strongly negative views of Trump six months after he re-entered the White House.
Fewer than one in five Australian voters believe Trump's election was a good outcome for Australia.
When asked whether it would be a good or a bad thing for Australia to become more independent from the US on foreign policy and national security, 46 per cent of respondents said they believed it would be a good thing, compared to 22 per cent who said it would be a bad thing.
When compared along political lines, 56 per cent of Labor voters said they supported Australia adopting a more independent foreign policy and just 12 per cent opposed the idea.
Coalition voters were evenly split, with 34 per cent favouring more distance from its closest security partner while 35 per cent said it would be bad to become more independent of the US.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all Australian goods, as well as a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imports.
The Trump administration has also called for Australia to dramatically increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, while launching a review into the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact.
Since his re-election, Albanese has stressed the importance of Australian sovereignty and said his government would not commit to joining the United States in a hypothetical war with China over Taiwan.
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