Only 11% of Europeans across 15 countries view the United States as an ally, a historic low and down from 16% half a year ago and 22% in November 2024, according to a survey published by the European Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday.
The findings, released ahead of G7 and NATO summits, highlight Europe’s waning confidence in Washington as a reliable security partner. Majorities in all surveyed countries expressed doubts that the U.S. would come to their defence in the event of an attack.
Europeans were four percentage points more likely than last year to support increased national defence spending. Italy is the only country where a clear majority remains opposed.
Nearly half (47%) of respondents across the region back the idea of collective EU borrowing to fund defence initiatives, with the strongest support recorded in Portugal (59%), Denmark (56%), and the Netherlands (55%).
Most respondents advocated reducing reliance on U.S. military hardware in favour of European alternatives, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden reporting the highest support for “buying European”.
Poland was the sole outlier with a majority favouring increased purchases of U.S. weapons, while Germany, Italy and Hungary showed significant division on the matter.
Resistance to cutting domestic public spending for increased defence budgets remains strong in Italy (63%), Austria (59%) and Germany (56%).
On energy policy, 44% of Europeans opposed resuming oil and gas imports from Russia despite rising costs.
Most respondents continue to support Ukraine as an ally or strategic partner, though consensus weakens when it comes to sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine post-war or expanding EU membership eastward.
Majorities in every country polled except Bulgaria thought U.S.-European relations would improve when U.S. President Donald Trump left office.
The poll was carried out in May 2026 using a mix of methods by pollsters including Mandate Research and YouGov, sampling the views of people aged 18 and over in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
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