• 60 per cent of people aged 18-24 years old were concerned about climate change as a result of Trump’s election
• Over a third of people thought setting foreign and defence policy would be more challenging
• President-elect Donald Trump ran a contentious campaign. From foreign and defence policy, to free trade deals and climate change, Trump’s views have challenged the status quo, and if enacted will have ramifications for people across the world.

Polling released today by YouGov and communications consultancy PLMR shows that 52 per cent of British people believe that the British government’s ability to deal with climate change will be harder with Donald Trump as President. The figure increases to 60 per cent for people aged 18-24 years old. This can be compared to only 4 per cent of adults who think his election will make it easier for us to tackle climate change.

The polling showed a link between Briton’s views on Mr Trump and their voting patterns in the EU Referendum in June. 73 per cent of Remain voters believe the election of Donald Trump will make it harder for Britain to deal with climate change, compared to 32 per cent of UKIP voters who were significantly the least concerned demographic.

It seems, however, that the British population do not think that Trump will have influence over all areas of our external affairs. Some 40 per cent of adults surveyed believe that the election of Donald Trump will make no real difference to the UK’s relationship with the European Union.

Nonetheless, over a third (37 per cent) of the British population believe the new administration will make it harder for Britain to deal with foreign and defence policy.

With decisions still to be announced on who Trump will appoint as his administration’s Secretary of State, Defence Secretary and Interior Secretary, today’s results show that Britons are concerned and will be watching closely.

Joe Mitton, Senior Consultant at PLMR, said:

“The clear message here is that most British people expect little action on climate change in the next four to eight years of Trump’s Presidency. Carbon emissions are a truly global issue requiring cooperation among all polluters, and British people have historically prioritised environmental issues, so today’s poll results show that we hold quite a pessimistic view of Trump’s environmentalism.

“The results also demonstrate the special relationship between the “English-speaking Peoples”, to use Churchill’s phrase. It is clear that Britons follow events in America closely and understand how we are affected by changes over there”.

For further information on this story, please call Anokhi Madhavji
on 07415 701567

ENDS

• Joe Mitton is a senior PLMR consultant. He was previously the business adviser to the Mayor of London, now Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.  Joe is a former diplomat and was a negotiator at the 2009 G20 Summit.  He has worked in collaboration with the US State Department on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s participation in the APEC 2007 Summit.
• PLMR is one of the UK’s fastest growing corporate communications consultancies. We give 5% of our profits to charity
• PLMR provides corporate communications, public affairs, reputation management, media training, specialist planning support and digital services