Geo-Economics and Politics

Trump or Clinton: how would other countries have voted?

U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton attend campaign events in Hershey, Pennsylvania, November 4, 2016 (L) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 22, 2016 in a combination of file photos.   REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Carlos Barria/Files

The survey suggested that America’s next president would have been female. Image: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Carlos Barria

Alex Gray
Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

Take a moment to imagine that the US election was not decided exclusively by American voters, but was a global election open to every country on the planet.

Which candidate would be stepping into the White House? Who would be tweeting from @POTUS?

A YouGov poll conducted last month asked 20,000 people in 19 different nations whom they would rather have as the next president of the United States: Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

It found that, overwhelmingly, America’s next president would have been female: Clinton would have walked into the Oval Office, with former president Bill Clinton now in the supporting role.

Who voted what?

Still reeling from their own shock result (the Brexit vote), the British were significantly behind Clinton, with 65% saying they would have voted for her. Of the remaining 35% only 11% would have voted Trump, the rest were undecided.

But Clinton had the highest backing in the Nordic regions, with levels of support ranging from 72% in Norway to a high of 81% in Denmark, and relatively few undecided.

Other European countries weren’t far behind, almost three quarters of Germans (72%) thought Clinton would make a better president, while 64% of the French agreed.

Who would you rather was president of the USA? %
Image: YouGov

Where did Trump have the most support?

The real election result is reflected in the results of the survey, which showed the highest support for Trump in the US, at 39%, more than any other country.

One-fifth of those in Thailand and India were also in favour of a Trump presidency, but with far less support he has in America. In India, more than two thirds of those surveyed would support Clinton, while 15% didn’t know who they would vote for.

Thailand was one of the countries with the most people unsure who they would vote for, with 35% saying so. Malaysia and Saudi Arabia were even more uncertain, with 39% and 46% saying they didn’t know.

Australia, Hong Kong and the Philippines were strongly in favour of Clinton, registering between 60 and 65% support.

Have you read?

Where does Russia stand?

Although Russia was not included in this survey, in an earlier piece of research, also by YouGov, the country was the leading supporter of Trump. YouGov surveyed 20,000 adults in every G20 country and found that Russia was the only nation that preferred Trump.

And by a long way. Trump beat Clinton by 21 points in Russia, while she had a lead of more than 21 points over Trump in 15 other countries.

Of these countries, China was the least supportive of Clinton, who led by only 12 points.

 Opinion in the G20: Russian's favour Donald Trump for US President
Image: YouGov
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

United States

Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how United States is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

5 geopolitical questions for 2025

Samir Saran

November 1, 2024

Americans are going to the polls. Here’s how the US election works

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum