Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will pay a visit to the United States for several days, during which he will meet former US President Donald Trump, now the only Republican presidential candidate, on 8 March. Trump, just like Hungary, is for peace and calls for an early end to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine to avoid more people dying in the war. As one of the main political divides between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the US presidential election in November is expected to be the continuation of the war or the promotion of peace, Századvég has mapped out what Hungarians think about the current and former US president in this regard.

The world was safer under Trump

First, as the world’s leading economic, military and political power, the United States plays a key role in shaping and maintaining the stability of global politics, and thus the US President has an unequalled public responsibility. Since the departure of Jimmy Carter in 1981, Donald Trump has been the first US president not to start another war during his term in office. In light of this, it is less surprising that

the majority of respondents (53%) feel that the world was more peaceful and safer under President Donald Trump

than it is now under Joe Biden.

Donald Trump could end the war

In the two years since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, it has become clear that the Biden administration’s foreign policy is leading to an escalation of the armed conflict rather than promoting peace. Joe Biden’s commitment to war is clear from the fact that, while Republican Congress members have been blocking further military aid to Ukraine for months, Biden is continuing to arm Ukraine through legal loopholes. Therefore, Americans consider Donald Trump, rather than Joe Biden, to be the guarantee of an early end to the war. The survey shows that

Hungarians would clearly prefer Donald Trump (51%) as US president to Joe Biden (30%) as a NATO ally to end the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Due to its NATO membership, geographical location and historical experience, Hungary’s primary interest is to prevent the escalation of the war and to avoid involvement in it. According to the survey,

a majority of respondents (51%) would consider Trump, as US President, a better NATO ally for the preservation of peace and security for Hungary than the current President of the United States, Joe Biden.
• Methodology

CATI method, n=1,000, among Hungarian adults, data collection: March 2024