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Australian support for U.S. alliance drops to nine-year low

Xinhua, June 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The percentage of strong supporters of Australia's alliance with the United States has dropped 9 percentage points from last year to the lowest level since 2007, a poll by Australia's leading think tank, the Lowy Institute for International Policy, showed.

The results of the poll was released on Tuesday by the think tank, which conducted two nationally representative telephone surveys between Feb. 26 and March 15, 2016, and between June 1 and 9, 2016, covering 1,202 and 1,002 Australian adults respectively.

The number of Australians who say the alliance is "very" or "fairly" important for Australia's security has dropped 9 points since 2015 to 71 percent, and is the lowest level of support since 2007.

While attitudes to the alliance remain broadly positive, this sentiment in 2016 is much lower than in 2012, when 87 percent of Australian adults said the alliance was very or fairly important for Australia's security.

Some 45 percent of Australians think that Australia should distance itself from the United States if Donald Trump is elected president. Half (51 percent) say "Australia should remain close to the United States regardless of who is elected U.S. president."

Results from the June polling showed that 77 percent of Australians would prefer Hillary Clinton as president, with only 11 percent saying they would prefer Trump.

In the same June poll, 59 percent Australians say they would be less likely to support Australia "taking future military action in coalition with the U.S. under Donald Trump" if he wins the presidency. Endit