IRES Survey: Romanians’ Perception of Foreign Leaders, Institutions and Ukraine war

Romanians view Donald Trump’s election as US president positively, while over half of respondents perceive Russia in negative terms (“adversary”/”rival”), are two of the main conclusions of a study conducted by IRES (Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy), conducted at the end of January, and which aimed to assess citizens’ perceptions of debate topics on the international and national public agenda.

According to the same study, over 8 out of 10 Romanians believe that the war in Ukraine will end with an agreement between Moscow and Kiev, while in the trust ranking, President Klaus Iohannis, who announced his resignation on Monday, is in last place, with a trust share of only 8%.

Donald Trump also leads the Romanians’ trust in a list of international personalities, and three quarters of Romanians believe that, in the next 20 years, China has a chance to be the most powerful country in the world.

More than half of Romanians believe that, in the next ten years, the European Union (EU) will have a global influence greater or at least equal to the one it currently has, the study also reveals.

Perception of Trump’s return to the White House

Thus, three quarters of Romanians perceive the election of Donald Trump as US president positively. If 62% of survey participants believe that Trump’s election is positive for all citizens of the world, 64% assess it this way for Romanians. Seven out of ten Romanians believe that Trump’s election is a good thing for American citizens. Around a quarter (27%) of survey participants consider Donald Trump’s election as a bad thing for Romanians or for citizens of the world and a much smaller percentage for the US (18%).

The War in Ukraine

Romanians’ opinion of Russia is currently predominantly negative. 38% of respondents believe that Russia is an adversary with whom we are in conflict, while 13% believe that it is a rival with whom we must compete. Another 32% of survey participants believe that Russia is a necessary partner with whom we must cooperate strategically, and 7% believe that Russia is an ally for Romania that shares our interests and values. Regarding the war in Ukraine, 86% of Romanians believe that an agreement between Ukraine and Russia is the most likely scenario for ending the conflict. 8% believe that it is possible for Russia to win the war and only 5% that it could be won by Ukraine.

China, seen as likely to become the most powerful country in the world

Three-quarters of Romanians believe that China has a chance to become the most powerful country in the world in the next 20 years, even stronger than the US. Over a quarter of the survey participants believe that this is very likely to happen, half believe that this is likely to happen, while a fifth believe the opposite.

How the EU is perceived

Over 60% of Romanians believe that the European Union is a power that can deal as equals with global powers, while 36% believe the opposite. Projectively, over half (53%) of Romanians believe that, in the next ten years, the EU will have a global influence greater or at least equal to the one it currently has. 29% of those surveyed believe it will have less influence, while 15% of survey participants believe that the EU does not currently have global influence and will not have it in the future.

Trust in international figures

Romanians’ trust in several prominent figures of current foreign policy is dominated by Donald Trump: 45% say they have a lot of trust in the US president. He is followed by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (23%).

18% of Romanians have a lot of trust in Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and appointed by Donald Trump to head the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the aim of reviewing and drastically reducing US government spending.

12% of Romanians have a lot of trust in Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, as well as in Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last in this ranking is the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, whose trust rate is 8%.