An Australian poll shows that over half of Australian citizens now believe that relations with China are more important than those with the United States. At the same time, public confidence in U.S. President Trump has fallen to a historic low among respondents.
According to Bloomberg, the Australian think tank Lowy Institute has released its 2026 annual poll showing that Australians’ sense of insecurity is on the rise: a majority of respondents reported feeling "unsafe" or "extremely unsafe"; support for cultural diversity has plummeted, and just over half of respondents believe the current level of immigration is too high.
Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove said that Australians are wary of the United States under Trump. Fewer than one third of respondents believe Washington can act responsibly on the international stage; since last year’s poll, public confidence in Trump "to do the right thing" in global affairs has dropped further.
The poll shows that, for the first time, a majority (51%) of respondents believe that Australia-China relations are more important than Australia-U.S. relations, a figure that has risen eight percentage points compared to 2025.
At the same time, although nearly three quarters of Australians still believe the Australia-U.S. alliance is critical to national security, the support rate of 73% is down seven and 10 percentage points from 2025 and 2024 respectively, marking the largest drop in the poll’s history. However, public support for the Australia-UK-U.S. trilateral security pact (AUKUS) remains robust at 68%.
Analysis points out that as an open trading nation, Australia has long benefited from the economic rise of China while sheltered under America’s "security umbrella." Yet as the rules-based international order erodes, "strongman politics" emerges, and the domestic economy weakens, Australia is turning inward. This trend is fueling the rise of populist parties, with support for the “One Nation party” surging.
This poll was conducted from March 2 to 15 this year, coinciding with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran that sent oil prices soaring. The survey sampled 2,013 nationally representative Australian adults, with a margin of error of about 2.2%.