Trump emerging as 'third candidate' in Australian election

President Donald Trump is looming large in the final weeks of Australia’s general election campaign.

President Donald Trump is looming large in the final weeks of Australia’s general election campaign, spelling trouble for conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton just as a new poll shows Australians’ faith in the United States at an all-time low.

A survey released on Wednesday by the Lowy Institute, a research foundation, found only 36% of Australians expressed any level of trust in the U.S. to act responsibly, down 20 points since the last survey in June 2024 and the lowest since the annual poll was launched two decades ago.

Trump’s blustery style and often disruptive policies, including “reciprocal” tariffs against long-time allies and attacks on U.S. government agencies, have begun to alarm Australian voters, analysts and academics say, as they have in Canada where the ruling party’s fortunes revived dramatically ahead of elections this month.

Similarly, the Labor Party of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has surged in the polls from a deficit of six points against Dutton’s conservative coalition as recently as January to a lead now of as much as nine points, with only three-and-a-half weeks until the May 3 election.

“Trump has emerged as the third candidate in this election campaign,” said Mark Kenny, a professor specializing in politics at the Australian National University in Canberra.