Brits want Donald Trump to lose, poll finds

LONDON — Britons overwhelmingly want Kamala Harris to win the forthcoming U.S. presidential election and beat Donald Trump, according to new polling.
YouGov data released Monday found almost two thirds of Brits (64 percent) asked want the vice president and Democratic nominee to beat the Republican nominee hopeful, who wins the backing of just 18 percent. The same percentage of the 2,115 polled by YouGov didn’t have a preference.
Only 18 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Trump compared to 77 percent of Brits asked who regard him negatively. A majority (60 percent) of those polled view Harris favorably, while nearly a quarter (23 percent) regard her negatively.
It’s not the first sign of British wariness about Trump. His visits to the U.K. in 2018 and 2019 were met with protests, while a petition urging the U.K. to ditch its offer of a state visit bagged more than 1.8 million signatures.
Harris polls better with Brits in the YouGov study than her boss Joe Biden did before he dropped out after a disastrous debate performance — while Trump’s figures have remained stuck.
When YouGov asked in May, just over half (55 percent) of those asked wanted the incumbent president to win, compared to 18 percent for Trump.
Support for Harris in the latest study is highest among voters who supported Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Britain’s two main center-left parties, in July’s general election.
Some 86 percent of Lib Dem voters want Harris to triumph compared to 4 percent for Trump. Meanwhile 83 percent of Labour supporters back Harris, with 5 percent opting for Trump.
A majority of Conservative voters (57 percent) — who backed Britain’s center-right opposition party at the election — also support Harris, compared to the 25 percent who said they prefer Trump.
Only Reform UK voters, who backed the right-wing populist party led by Brexiteer Nigel Farage, want Trump rather than Harris to win, by 54 percent to 26 percent respectively. Farage is a close ally of Trump and has regularly campaigned on his behalf.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told POLITICO last year that a Trump victory would not be his “desired outcome,” although later added that a future Labour government would “have to make it work.” 
Starmer met Trump for a two-hour dinner last month in New York.