Olympic opening ceremonies are traditionally unifying, non-political events—a chance for athletes from around the world to introduce their teams before the competition begins.
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But when Vice President J.D. Vance appeared on the stadium’s big screen during the kickoff of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games on Friday, the unmistakable sound of boos and jeers broke out among the crowd of 65,000 people.
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While President Donald Trump seemed to brush off the reaction, telling reporters on Air Force One, “That’s surprising because people like him…He doesn’t get booed in this country,” recent polls suggest that it’s not just Vance who has a problem in Europe.
A new YouGov poll released Feb. 6 found that favorable views of the U.S. among Western European nations have fallen sharply in recent months, following Trump’s aggressive attempts to annex Greenland, his Administration’s ongoing trade war with most of its European allies, and a years-long divide over the future of NATO and European security.
Perhaps predictably, the biggest impact was seen in Denmark. Some 84% of Danes now hold an unfavourable view of the U.S., compared with 70% in November 2025 and an average of 36% during former President Joe Biden’s term. Only 26% of Danes view the U.S. as an ally or friendly nation, compared with 80% in July 2023.
The same trend is seen across Western Europe, in countries that were once considered U.S. allies. In Spain, only 39% view the U.S. as a friend or ally, down from 64% in early 2023. In Germany, the number is 41%, down from 65%; in Britain, 46%, down from 69%; and in France and Italy—53% and 52%, respectively—said the same, each down from 67%.
A closer look at the data shows that Europeans’ views of the United States are strongly influenced by their views of Trump. A January poll by YouGov found that in Britain, only 18 percent of people have a favorable view of the President, whereas in Italy and Spain, only 15 percent and 19 percent do.
That shift has coincided with a change in U.S. policy toward Europe. Early in Trump’s second term, it became clear that the Administration would treat Europe differently from its predecessors, and that Vance would be a leading critic of European policies. In an antagonistic speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2025, Vance criticized European nations for their policies on free speech and argued that the continent’s gravest danger was not Russia or China, but their own governments, which he deemed overly restrictive of free speech. The Trump Administration diverged from European allies on the war in Ukraine, trade, and immigration, too.
The strain between the U.S. and Europe was heightened in recent months as Trump increased his efforts to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
After Trump refused to rule out military action to take control of the island, the United States’ NATO allies warned such an action would mean the death of the alliance. When troops from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands participated in joint military exercises with Denmark on the island, Trump responded by imposing tariffs on all participating countries.
He eventually removed the tariffs after reaching a “framework agreement” with NATO regarding the island’s future.
The post J.D. Vance is Booed at the Winter Olympics as a New Poll Shows How Europe Has Turned Against U.S. appeared first on TIME.
