US President Donald Trump wants to expand right-wing populist movement in Europe, but winning European voters may be harder than he expects. The leader of the MAGA ("Make America Great Again") movement is unpopular in Europe, even among supporters of right-wing populist parties he sees as allies. This is according to a new POLITICO Poll in partnership with Public First, conducted among more than 10,000 people in five countries earlier this month.
The US president's biggest fans are in the UK, where 50% of supporters of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party surveyed have a positive opinion of Trump. However, in France and Germany, only about a third of people who support far-right and conservative parties say they view Trump favorably. The poll results come as the Trump administration unveiled a new national security strategy aimed at cultivating the "growing influence of patriotic European parties." These forces are seeing gains in support in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, though they have yet to translate that into outright electoral victories. The POLITICO data offers a potential warning to right-wing populist parties trying to attract broader support while aligning themselves with Trump: People who say they would support such parties in a future vote are more negative about Trump than those who have supported them in the past (in the United Kingdom, France and Germany). The US president is even more unpopular among the general public population.
In France and Germany, two-thirds of those surveyed have a negative opinion of him. In the UK, 55% report negative attitudes - only slightly more than in the US, where they are 50%. Trump is least popular in Canada, where 72% of those surveyed have a negative opinion.
Supporters of the "patriotic" right-wing populist parties, which the US administration has explicitly mentioned in its security strategy, support the US president much more than others, but - crucially - even they do not give their unqualified support.
In France, voters of Marine Le Pen's "National Rally" overwhelmingly approve of their leader.
But when it comes to the US president, more voters express a negative opinion (38%) than a positive one (30%). Supporters of the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) strongly approve of party leader Alice Weidel but are divided on Trump: 34% think favorably of him and 33% disapprove.
The findings highlight the challenge facing the "National Rally", which is not just catering to its current electoral base but is also trying to win broader support ahead of local elections next year and the crucial presidential election in 2027.
Le Pen and Jordan Bardella's party is the third largest political force, but the largest single party in the National Assembly and is currently leading convincingly in opinion polls.
Its leaders have been quick to reject the White House's efforts to support right-wing forces in Europe. Bardella told The Telegraph that he rejects "vassalage" to "big brother like Trump", and Thierry Mariani, a member of the party's national board, told POLITICO: "Trump treats us like a colony - with his rhetoric, which is not a big problem, but mostly economically and politically."
The exception is Britain, where 79% of "Reform" supporters report favorable views of their leader Nigel Farage, while Trump finds support from a slim majority.
"America first", friends second?
In the UK, France and Germany, right-wing populists stand out for their strong demand that political leaders put their own country first.
50% of "National Rally" voters, 47% of AfD voters and 45% of "Reform Britain" supporters cited this as one of the most important qualities in a political leader.
Right-wing respondents agree that this is a quality that Trump possesses to a greater extent than French President Emmanuel Macron (88%), German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (93%) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (91%). A clear majority of them say they want their leaders to try to get along with Trump.
Local right-wing populist movements share a "nationalist instinct", according to Jules Walkden, research manager at Public First - but this could ultimately put them on a collision course with Trump's MAGA movement, which favors US interests.
"Supporters of right-wing parties in Europe clearly want to see their leaders put their own country first, and they may see Trump as a champion of that approach," Walkden says. "But once elected, the practical demands of delivering on the "country first" promise could quickly expose the limits of that agreement."
The POLITICO Poll data also suggests that supporters of right-wing populists may admire Trump's policies but distrust him.
Voters in France and Germany are more likely than others to think Trump's policies are good for the United States, but are also more likely to say they are bad for other countries.
Once again, supporters of "Reform Britain" are most open to Trump, with 42.8% believing that everyone will benefit from his policies.
In Germany, France and the UK, right-wing populist supporters are much more likely to agree that when a country's interests clash with those of its allies, the country should come first. They are also more likely to say that domestic industry should be protected if necessary - even to the detriment of its global competitiveness. Nearly 67% of "Reform" voters, 71% of "National Assembly" and 72% of AfD voters say so.
However, supporters of these parties are more likely to accept the tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on European industries.
65% of AfD voters say the tariffs are bad for Germany, but only 37% think Germany should retaliate with tariffs against the US - well below the overall 47% of German respondents who support this. In Britain, only 45% of "Reform" voters see the tariffs as a bad thing, and only 35% say the country should respond with reciprocal tariffs on American imports.
However, in a sign that sympathy for Trump has its limits, 60% of "National Assembly" voters say Trump's tariffs on European imports are bad for the French economy. And while they are less likely than other French people to want their government to retaliate, 48% still support retaliatory measures.
---
The POLITICO Poll was conducted from December 5 to 9, 2025, among 10,510 adults online, with at least 2,000 respondents from each country (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany). The results were weighted to be representative by age, gender and geography, with a maximum margin of error of ±2 percentage points for each country.
The survey is an ongoing project by POLITICO and Public First, an independent polling company based in London.