JULY 2025: Informat.ro BAROMETER - INSCOP Research: Trust in international leaders | 3 out of 10 Romanians trust US President Donald Trump

According to The Informat.ro - INSCOP Research, 2nd edition, conducted from June 20-26, 2025, 3 out of 10 Romanians trust US President Donald Trump.

BAROMETER Informat.ro - INSCOP Research is a monthly opinion poll conducted by INSCOP Research commissioned by the news platform Informat.ro in partnership with the think-tank Strategic Thinking Group.

The Informat.ro - INSCOP ResearchBAROMETER aims to bring to public attention topics of interest to stimulate national conversations on various topics and public policies essential for Romania's present and future based on the opinion of Romanians in partnership with prestigious think tanks and academic institutions. This is an approach through which we aim to contribute to the consolidation of democracy through the use of scientific and credible tools that bring the voice of citizens to the forefront of public debate.

Methodology: Data was collected between June 20-26, 2025. Research method: questionnaire interview. Data were collected using the CATI method (telephone interviews), the simple stratified sample size was 1150 persons, representative by significant socio-demographic categories (sex, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 years and over. The maximum permissible error of the data is ± 2.9%, at 95% confidence.

Remus Ștefureac - Director INSCOP Research: "Trust in Western leaders (King Charles, Sandu, Macron) is decreasing compared to the March 2024 measurement, i.e. before the crisis caused by the annulment of the presidential elections. Their support is concentrated in the educated urban and among voters of parties with a pro-Western profile (especially USR and PNL), but much weaker among AUR voters. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are the only two gaining in trust, with their support coming from the rural, low-educated segments and AUR electorate. King Charles remains the leader with the most balanced political support, but has significantly lower trust among the young. Maia Sandu and Emmanuel Macron cause the greatest polarization between the urban elites and the rest of the population, being strongly rejected in the countryside and especially by the AUR electorate, amid the party leader's electoral positioning. Overall, the data show a geopolitical polarization in Romania between the pro-Western orientation of the urban centers and the anti-system sympathies of some rural and traditionalist segments, influenced by the electoral rhetoric of the AUR, whose voters show a level of trust in Vladimir Putin twice as high as the average population and three or even four times higher than the PSD, PNL and USR voters."

Trust in international leaders

King Charles of Great Britain leads the rankings of trust in international leaders, with 45.5% trusting him quite a lot and very much, as 90.7% of respondents say they have heard of him. The British monarch is followed by US President Donald Trump, with 30.5% trusting him quite a lot and very much (96.2% awareness), Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova, with 28.7% (82% awareness) and Emmanuel Macron, President of France, with 26.3% (85.8% awareness). Russian leader Vladimir Putin is trusted quite a lot and very much by 15.6% of those surveyed, at a 99.3% level of notoriety.

King Charles of Great Britain enjoys high trust especially from the following categories of the population: PNL and USR voters, men, people over 60, the highly educated, small urban dwellers and private employees. They trust Donald Trump quite a lot and very much especially: AUR voters, men, people over 60, the middle educated, rural dwellers and Tik-Tok users. PNL and USR voters, people with higher education, people living in Bucharest and large urban areas tend to trust Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova, the most. They especially trust Emmanuel Macron, President of France: PNL and USR voters, highly educated people, residents of Bucharest and the large urban areas, state employees. AUR voters, men, people aged between 30 and 44, and Tik-Tok users are the categories that most trust Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

The graphical presentation of the data is available here: BAROMETER Informat.ro - INSCOP Research: Trust in International Leaders