Britons’ answers to what America looks like now often start with the person they see as running the conversation: President Donald Trump. In interviews across the country, the Associated Press asked a neutral question—“What do you think of America now?”—and the reporting found that many people, including those who support some of Trump’s policies, began with a pause and then moved quickly to a euphemistic reference to the president and the Trump era before describing what they admire or dislike about the United States.
Mark Keightley, a printer technician serving the Cambridge area about an hour north of London, put the idea plainly. “It’s Trump’s world now, isn’t it?” he said, capturing how Trump has become a kind of shorthand for America’s present-day political reality.
Eddie Boyle, who said his view of the United States had become tied to Trump, spoke as he walked across Westminster Bridge in London. “My own opinion of America is now dictated by the president and he’s not covering himself in glory as far as I’m concerned,” Boyle said. He added, “It’s a shame that such a long arrangement between the two countries has been tarnished.”
The interviews came from a mix of locations, from George Washington’s ancestral home near Scotland to Cambridge, Bristol and London. When AP asked whether it was possible to talk about America in 2026 without referencing Trump, the reporting said the unanimous answer was no. The reasons varied by person, but the pattern did not: Trump entered early, and often with the language of politics rather than diplomacy.
The relationship between the U.S. and Britain has long been debated through the lens of leaders, too. The article traced that dynamic through history, noting that writer Charles Dickens described mixed feelings after his 1842 visit to the United States, when he was feted in major cities and also wrote that he was horrified by slavery. Dickens also complained that the American press seemed worse than any country he had known, and he wrote in a travelogue that Americans spit in public, calling it a “filthy custom.” In a letter dated March 22, 1842, Dickens wrote, “In every respect but that of National Education, the Country disappoints me.”
Over time, the article said, multiple U.S.-U.K. inflection points helped deepen the sense of a lasting American power rather than a temporary break from Britain. It pointed to the War of 1812, which ended in a draw but helped solidify American independence and established the United States as a trading and military force. It also cited the Civil War and later alliances, including World War II and, decades later, the Reagan-Thatcher relationship tied to the Soviet Union’s collapse.
In Suffolk, Maria Miston described the U.S.-U.K. partnership as something that had delivered “something great there,” referring to Thatcher and Reagan and saying they “actually managed to bring the Cold War to an end.” She then contrasted that memory with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, saying the superpower’s image had been damaged and “We’ve just gone backwards since then.”
In the current era, Trump has also helped reshape the way British political figures and royal symbolism appear in U.S.-U.K. interactions. The article reported that during his second term Trump first tolerated British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but later dismissed him as “ not Winston Churchill ” after Starmer declined to involve the U.K. in a U.S. war against Iran. It also reported that Trump has suggested he considers the king—not the prime minister—to be his peer, including through an invitation for a second state visit and a royal dinner at Windsor Castle last year as well as Charles’ visit to Washington.
The article said the White House posted on social media that the two were “TWO KINGS,” described as part clapback to “No Kings” rallies in the U.S. during Charles’ visit. It added that Charles in the U.S. described the long U.S.-British relationship as “more important today than it has ever been,” while laying out support for checks and balances—an approach the story said was seen as an implicit critique of Trump.
British attitudes also appear to be quantifiable, according to the article’s cited polling. It reported that only 28% of British adults approved of U.S. leadership in a Gallup poll conducted in the late summer and early fall of 2025, while 68% disapproved. It also said Pew Research Center’s 2025 Global Attitudes Survey found about half of U.K. adults had a favorable view of the U.S., and that view was higher in the early years of Joe Biden’s presidency, falling to 54% by the spring of 2024.
Even while expressing frustration about Trump and the Trump era, many Britons also acknowledged aspects of America they admire. The article said they cited American ambition, wealth, military might, and resilience, including admiration for arts and entertainment and a sense of strength despite racial tensions and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. At the same time, it said gun violence, immigration policy and “crackdowns” puzzled many interviewees, especially in a country that outlawed handguns in 1997 after a school massacre.
For some, the question of how Trump became president still stands out. Mark Gibson, speaking in a pub in Washington near the ancestral home of the first U.S. president, said he understood why Americans might elect other men as leaders but did not understand Trump. “How can someone like that become president?” Gibson asked, noting Trump had “bankruptcies and legal troubles.” He added, “I guess that’s what people wanted. They elected him twice.”
Associated Press News Editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington and video journalist Kwiyeon Ha in London contributed to this report.