More than 70% of Scots have an unfavourable view of US President Donald Trump, a new poll suggests – but young people are more likely to support him.
The survey by Ipsos Scotland found 71% of the 1,025 respondents questioned between February 21 and 26 held an unfavourable view of the American leader compared to 18% with a favourable view.
The survey comes as former first minister Nicola Sturgeon joked at a conference in Edinburgh that Mr Trump’s second term in office makes her look back on former president George W Bush more fondly.
The former first minister accused the US President of attempting to make people ‘cower’ (Jane Barlow/PA)
The poll also exposed an age gap in support for Mr Trump, with more than a quarter (27%) of those aged between 16 and 34 holding a favourable view, compared to 18% for those aged between 35 and 54 and just 11% for those aged older than 55.
It also showed a gulf between Scotland and the rest of the UK, where 57% held an unfavourable view of the President and 25% a favourable one.
Mr Trump has long-standing links to Scotland, with his mother Mary being born near Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and a company he owns operating two golf clubs north of the border.
Speaking at the Scottish Housing Festival in Edinburgh on Tuesday about leadership, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon – a long-time critic of the President – said: “We all lived through George W Bush and the Iraq War.
“I’m not trying to be political here, but most people would have thought George W Bush wasn’t the best person that had ever occupied the White House at the time.
“But now that we’ve had the experience of Trump, you actually look back at George W. Bush and think: ‘Oh, wasn’t he good? I wish he’d come back.’”
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She also spoke of the “bully boy” tactics being used by political leaders around the world today.
Ms Sturgeon added: “If good people with the right reasons for wanting to lead, look at the world we live in today and say: ‘Leadership’s a bit too tough, the environment is too toxic’ and decide to hold back or depart the scene, basically, it’s all the bad people that end up leading in every walk of life.
“A lot of what Trump is doing in America right now is to … silence people, to make people cower, to frighten people off.”
If that is allowed to happen, she said, “the future is not good” and added that “good people need to come forward”.
The Ipsos poll also assessed the feeling of Scots to Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk – the world’s richest man and a close Trump ally, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency in the US.
Mr Musk fared worse in the poll than the US President, with 70% having an unfavourable view of him, but just 12% holding a favourable one.
There was a similar, but less pronounced, trend of young people favouring him more than older ones, with 21% of 16-34-year-olds supporting him compared to 13% of 35-54-year-olds and just 6% of those over 55.