This is according to the African Youth Survey 2026, published by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, a South African philanthropic organisation that funds research across Africa.

The findings mark a striking reversal from two years ago when the last survey was conducted.

In 2024, 42.0% of young Africans believed that a Joe Biden administration would be more beneficial to their country. Only 23.0% expected a Trump administration to be better, while 25.0% expressed no preference.

Now that Trump is back in office, the balance has shifted.

The graph below shows the share of young Africans who are optimistic about the future under his administration across nine areas of policy.

Optimism ranges narrowly between 58% and 60% across every area tested, including trade, military support, development assistance, democracy, security cooperation, and youth empowerment.

This holds even though Trump's own policies are expected to hurt African interests in certain areas. Some 46% expect the closure of USAid to harm their country, and 53% identified healthcare and disease prevention as the areas most exposed.

The research separately found that some 58% of young Africans believe the United States will disregard international law to gain access to natural resources in their country, rising to 70% in South Africa and Liberia.

Despite that, 52% of all young Africans believe their leaders should find a way to work with Trump regardless of their differences, against 42% who think their governments should stand up to him. Data on that are set out on the chart below.

The survey also found that 55% of young Africans want alliances with countries that can deliver practical benefits such as trade and investment, regardless of values and ideology, against 42% of young Africans who prefer alliances built on shared values.

The survey further tested sentiment towards the US compared to that towards China. The data are set out in the graph below and show that Chinese influence is generally seen as competitive with or more positive than that of the US, and this was particularly the case in South Africa, which seems in alignment with its government’s extreme anti-US foreign policy.

Survey data of this type are extremely valuable in developing an understanding of the deeper nature of relationships between countries and sentiments within those societies. The insights often appear as a paradox of sorts, which in the experience of this newspaper in its own polling operations is often a marker of high-quality research. Too many analysts try to simplify the world into neat binary positions that are clear and logical as either for or against the particular proposition. Gabriel Makin, who is well known to readers of this newspaper as, among other things, the host of its flagship podcast, is fond of quoting Carl Jung that “at the heart of every truth lies a paradox”. In many respects that could be the byline for much of the writing of this publication.