Trump seen as neither friend nor foe, while risk of war with Russia viewed as high, Europeans say

More than half of EU residents believe that the risk of a war with Russia in the coming years is high, according to a survey conducted by Cluster17.

The company carried out the poll in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Croatia. According to the findings, 51% of respondents in these countries consider the risk of a war between the EU and Russia to be high, while 46% view it as low or nonexistent.

Public confidence in their own countries’ ability to withstand a potential conflict with Russia was largely negative: 69% said their country would not be able to resist in the event of a conflict, whereas 26% believed it could. Meanwhile, 15% of respondents in the surveyed countries assessed the risk of war with China as high, compared with 81% who viewed it as low or nonexistent. For Iran, the corresponding figures were 17% versus 77%, and for the United States—10% versus 86%.

Additionally, 48% of respondents described U.S. President Donald Trump as an enemy of the EU. Only 10% considered him a friend, while 40% said he was “neither.”

Regarding relations with the U.S. and China, 55% of those surveyed said the EU should keep “equal distance from both”; 20% favored prioritizing ties with the United States, while 4% preferred closer relations with China.

Respondents still viewed the risk of a large-scale war with terrorist organizations as the most likely scenario: 63% considered it high, while 31% said it was low or nonexistent.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 22 to 28 among 9,553 residents.