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Poll: European Support for U.S. Fading
After the Iraq war, support for U.S. global leadership has faded badly in European nations, most dramatically in Germany and France which strenuously opposed the war, according to a survey released Thursday. Awwwwh, they donât like us! President Bushâs standing has just about evaporated in Germany where his approval rating is 16 percent - down from 36 percent in 2002 - and where public opinion increasingly questions American leadership, said the Trans-Atlantic Trends 2003 survey. ``The Germany that never sought to choose between Europe and the United States has now expressed an unambiguous preference for Europe,ââ it said. Your choice, boys, but next time try to go with a winner, eh? The war has made the trans-Atlantic disconnect so significant that large chunks of public opinion in France (70 percent), Germany and Italy (both 50 percent), Portugal (44 percent) now see U.S leadership as undesirable, the poll showed. ``The trans-Atlantic split over the war in Iraq has undermined Americansâ standing with Europeans,ââ it added. Guess Iâll take the little woman to the Grand Canyon next year instead. The survey of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di Sao Paolo, a Turin foundation devoted to developing interest in international affairs in Italy was held in mid-June, two months after U.S. troops ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Washington went to war bypassing the United Nations, whose support it failed to win due to European opposition. Donât forget the Chinese. The Trans-Atlantic Trends 2003 survey found broad support on both sides of the Atlantic to strengthen the United Nations. However, 36 percent of Americans - and only 16 percent of Europeans - say it is all right to bypass the organization to defend vital national interests, the survey found. No problem, next time Europeâs vital interests are threatened, they can coax the Uruguayan soldiers out of their barracks. Great peacekeepers, those Uruguayans. It said that hard on the heels of the Iraq war, Bushâs foreign policies polled only a 30 percent approval rating across Europe, down from 38 percent in 2002. Damned if we do ... In Britain and the Netherlands he fares better than in 2002: 35 percent of Britons approve of his foreign policies (up from 30 percent last year) and 37 percent of the Dutch (up from 28 percent), the survey found. However, Bushâs dismal 16 percent approval in Germany almost matches the tally in France (15 percent, against 21 percent in 2002). Memo To: GWB, POTUSThe American president polled a 40-percent support level in Italy (down from 57 percent), 58 percent in Poland (down from 62 percent) and 41 percent in Portugal which was not polled in 2002, according to the survey. In concert with Bushâs fading stature Why? The USSR is gone. Communism is dead outside of Berkeley and Ann Arbor. Cold War is over. This is expected. The survey consisted of telephone interviews with 1,000 people each in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and the United States and face-to-face interviews in Poland. It has a 3-point margin of error. Except in France, where the error rate is 100 percent. Posted by: Steve White 2003-09-04 |
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