Despite Donald Trump’s controversial tenure as US President, including an investigation for an impeachable offence, Australia’s faith in its alliance with US has risen dramatically since the property magnate took office.

Some 65 per cent of Australians believe in our close relationship with the US under President Trump, up from the 51 per cent who supported the alliance during the 2016 presidential election campaign that Hillary Clinton was widely tipped to win, according to a Lowy Institute poll.

As many as 77 per cent of Australians believe the alliance with the United States is either “very” or “fairly” important for Australia’s security.

This was up from the 71 per cent who supported the significance of Australia’s relationship with the US during the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency.

While 60 per cent of Australians surveyed said Mr Trump had damaged their opinion of the US, only 29 per cent said Australia should distance itself from its chief ally under President Trump.

Melbourne University US politics lecturer George Rennie told The New Daily this did not mean Australians’ opinion of Mr Trump himself had changed.

He said it would take more than some “dumb tweets” and “aggressive interactions with world leaders” to disturb Australia’s historic and long-term relationship with the US.

“Australia has a dim view of Trump,” Mr Rennie said.

“There are a reasonable proportion of Australians who kind of like him – they think he’s the antidote to political correctness – but the strong majority don’t like him.

“What we’ve seen in this Lowy poll is that people react to uncertainty with strong concerns over what might or could happen.

“There was a great concern when Trump was elected that he would launch an unpopular war. But he hasn’t done that, yet.

“Increasingly, we separate Donald Trump from that equation – the Trump scandals are not the issue, it’s the US foreign policy decisions.

“I think people went back to thinking that, in this world, we need a strong relationship with the US.”

The poll did, however, show Australians’ trust that the US will act responsibly has halved since 2011.

As a result, the US has dropped from Australia’s “best friend” in the world to second place, with New Zealand assuming its spot.

Australians’ warmth towards the US suffered a record drop in 2016 in the lead-up to the presidential election.

But in 2017, since Mr Trump took office, feelings towards the US have steadied at 69 per cent.

Australians’ attitude towards other countries

In contrast, just eight per cent of respondents regarded Australia as having close ties with China.

Almost half of Australians also believe China will pose a military threat within the next two decades.

However, more Australians regarded China as an economic partner than a threat.

Feelings about safety reached a record low in the 13-year history of the Lowy poll, with only 20 per cent of Australians saying they felt “very safe”.

Terrorism, North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and climate change rated as Australians’ greatest concerns, with 80 per cent dissatisfied with the world’s direction.

– with AAP