The Bright Side

Across the world, from Australia to Canada to the U.K., left-leaning leaders and political parties were in the doldrums. Then came Trump 2.0.

In Canada, which is set to hold an election on Monday, the center-left Liberals were behind in the polls by 20 points before Trump began questioning their country’s sovereignty. Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney is now ahead, with a poll tracker published by CBC News showing his party leading the Conservatives 42.2% to 38.5%.

There is a similar situation in Australia, where elections will be held May 3. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of the center-left Labor Party, was losing to his conservative opponent, Peter Dutton, 53% to 47% in January, according to the pollster Roy Morgan. Now, Albanese is ahead 55.5% to 44.5%. 

“It’s one thing to have a beer in the backyard at the barbecue and debate about ‘Is Australia too woke?’” said Bill Shorten, a former Labor Party leader who is now president at the University of Canberra. “But when you see your pension fund dropping…it doesn’t seem so funny anymore.”

Pollsters said Trump is unpopular in these countries. In Canada, 33% of people had a very or somewhat positive view of the U.S. in March, down from 52% in June last year, according to a survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies. In the U.K., Ipsos found earlier this month that 30% of Britons agreed there was a “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., a 17-point drop from the previous year.

In Australia, a recent poll by the Lowy Institute think tank found 36% of Australians had any level of trust in the U.S. to act responsibly, a new low and down from 56% in the prior year. Another poll, from RedBridge Group and Accent Research, found that 71% of Australians in a selection of competitive electoral districts had a very or mostly unfavorable view of Trump.