Why doesn’t Britain dislike Trump as much as Ireland does?

Posted by Glass-Complaint3@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 18 comments

American (anti-MAGA) here. I was looking at a map of Trump approval/disapproval in Europe. What jumped out at me was that he only has a -22 I think in the UK vs. a -54 in Ireland. What’s the reason for this dramatic gap between the neighboring countries?

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

I feel like Ireland have stronger feelings generally maybe. I have never met a Trump fan in this country, but people tend to see him as a joke rather than with anger as such.

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spinningdice@reddit

Everyone I associate with hates him, but given the latest election results, I guess people at lot of people like Farage and his whole wanting to make the UK the next bit of the US Empire.

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WinkyNurdo@reddit

Everyone I know thinks he’s a total cunt

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knotatwist@reddit

Ireland was the victim historically and the UK were the victor.

People who have been oppressed are more empathetic to those they consider to be oppressed as well, and more strongly against those they consider to be the oppressors.

Trump trying to take over Greenland, Canada, bombing Iran, encouraging Israel's actions against Palestine etc are all seen by Irish people as actions of an oppressor. "We cannot let this happen to others or to ourselves again" mentality. The UK has never really had that kind of situation as we've been sovereign for so long and over so many, and doesn't need to think like that.

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Spiritual-Archer118@reddit

The UK is more right-wing than Ireland at the moment. Irish nationalism is generally quite left-wing (same with Scotland and Wales) I suppose because it’s ultimately anti-authoritarian, anti-British, anti-monarchy etc. So the main Irish nationalist party - Sinn Fein - are very pro-Palestine, pro-LGBT+ rights, pro-gender rights and so on. This is despite Ireland’s strong religious background, and also despite Trump seeming to show support for a United Ireland recently.

Whereas in the UK, and England in particular, English nationalism is very right-wing, unionist and authoritarian. So there is a right-wing nationalist political party named Reform who are now doing very well, have taken control of a lot of local authorities and are on course to win a future general election. Reform are led by Nigel Farage, who is a wannabe Trump. I should also add that Protestants in Northern Ireland also lean towards being right-wing, and this is because they are unionists in line with British/English nationalism.

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ChateauLaFeet@reddit

Thank you for this detailed reply

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becpuss@reddit

We do 🤦‍♀️

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trevorpogo@reddit

you were looking at a bullshit map, I've seen this map and the figures are made up - they claim to be from a source that doesn't actually exist.

if you actually look for a real poll result you will see the UK Trump approval is actually at -67 not -22: https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54489-how-popular-is-donald-trump-in-europe-march-2026

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newMike3400@reddit

They do in my house

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Impressive_Pen_1269@reddit

It seems we have lots of developmentally challenged bootlicking racists

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InvincibleChutzpah@reddit

It depends on where in Britain. Scotland is pretty liberal. I'm an American living in Scotland. The second someone clocks my accent, I get comments about how much they hate Trump. The guy who owns the shop I get my vapes at jokes that he named his dog Trump "cause she's a wee bitch". I think the English are a bit more accepting of him. I can't speak from experience, though, as I haven't visited England since his dumpster fire started. I just know I haven't met a Scot that likes him.

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Swimming_Possible_68@reddit

Unfortunately we have a sizeable minority of the population who think Reform (Nigel Farages party) are the best bet for Britain.

This party is Britain's MAGA movement, and Farage likes to think he is Trumps best mate.

Therefore it stands to reading that if you are likely to vote for Reform you are likely to support Trumpian policies.

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non-hyphenated_@reddit

We do. We created the baby blimp after all. We also projected an image of him with Epstein onto Windsor Castle when he was here. He can't be driven anywhere in the country due to protests. He's a cunt and most of us think that. Even our Teemu-Trump (Nigel Farage) is distancing himself from him.

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