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Danes “afraid”, “sad”, “disappointed”, “angry” and … “excited” by Trump victory
Ben Hamilton
November 7th, 2016
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This article is more than 8 years old.
YouGov/Eurotrack survey’s finding range from the bog-standard to the bizarre
It’s going to be unreal, that’s for sure! (photo: DonkeyHotey)
The vast majority of Danes will be surprised if they wake up on Wednesday to the news that Donald Trump has been elected US president, according to a YouGov/Eurotrack survey of seven European countries – the four main Nordic states, Germany, France and the UK – carried out between October 20 and 25.
READ MORE: If Denmark was the US, would we have our own Trump?
Only 5 percent think he will win, compared to 85 percent tipping Hillary Clinton and 10 percent who don’t know – a long way off the latest odds at the bookies, which suggest Trump has an 18 percent chance.
In the other six countries, far more people were prepared to tip Trump or say they were uncertain.
Afraid, sad, disappointed – in that order
Accordingly, 48 percent of Danes said they would be “disappointed” should Trump win.
The word ‘disappointed’ was chosen by Danes in response to the question “If Donald Trump was elected President of the USA, which two or three of the following would best describe how you would feel? Please choose up to three.”
Other answers included “afraid” (62 percent), “sad” (53), “angry” (26) and “amused” (12). The “sad” response from the world’s happiest country was way ahead of the rest, with only Norway registering above 30 percent.
Excited by a Trump win!
And there was one bizarre answer.
Some 17 percent of Danes said they would be “excited” should Trump be elected president – significantly higher than the 5 percent who would vote for him.
In each of its fellow Nordic states, only 4 percent said they were “excited”.
Meanwhile, 25 percent of Danes said they would be “excited” about Clinton taking power.
Surprising results elsewhere
Denmark wasn’t the only country with surprising answers – which could of course, in some cases, be attributed to translation issues.
Some 29 percent of Finnish respondents would be “amused” should Trump wins – which was well clear of the other nations. Sardonic Britain only managed 18 percent.
Fully 30 percent of the French would “pity” the result (compared to just 9 percent in Denmark).
And to come full circle, 11 percent of the Swedes are predicting a Trump victory and only 64 percent of the Brits are plumping for Clinton (with 28 percent unsure). It would appear that not everyone is as confident as the Danes.
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