A major new survey has revealed that only 11 percent of Europeans across 15 countries now view the United States as an ally — a historic low that underscores how dramatically Europe’s confidence in Washington has collapsed in recent years.
The findings, published by the European Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, show that the figure has fallen sharply from 16 percent just six months ago and from 22 percent in November 2024. The survey was released ahead of both the G7 and NATO summits — timing that makes its findings particularly significant for transatlantic relations.
Majorities in every country surveyed expressed serious doubts about whether the United States would actually come to their defence in the event of a military attack.
Key Findings:
- Europeans were four percentage points more likely than last year to support increasing their own national defence spending. Italy was the only country where a clear majority remained opposed to higher defence budgets.
- 47 percent of respondents across the region supported the idea of collective EU borrowing to fund defence initiatives, with the strongest backing recorded in Portugal at 59 percent, Denmark at 56 percent and the Netherlands at 55 percent.
- Most respondents said they wanted to reduce dependence on US military hardware in favour of European-made alternatives. Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden reported the highest support for buying European defence equipment.
- Poland was the only outlier, with a majority favouring increased purchases of American weapons. Germany, Italy and Hungary showed significant division on the issue.
- Resistance to cutting domestic public spending in order to fund higher defence budgets remained strong in Italy at 63 percent, Austria at 59 percent and Germany at 56 percent.
- On energy, 44 percent of Europeans were opposed to resuming oil and gas imports from Russia despite rising energy costs across the continent.
- Most respondents continued to support Ukraine as an ally or strategic partner, though consensus weakened when it came to sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after the war or expanding EU membership further eastward.
- Majorities in every country surveyed except Bulgaria believed that US-European relations would improve once President Donald Trump left office.
The poll was conducted in May 2026 using a combination of research methods by pollsters including Mandate Research and YouGov, sampling respondents aged 18 and over across Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
