-Caveat Lector-
NY TIMES
June 14, 2006
Global Image of the U.S. Is Worsening, Survey Finds
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
WASHINGTON, June 13 As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the
global image of America has slipped further, even among people in some
countries closely allied with the United States, a new opinion poll has
found.
Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in
Spain, where only 23 percent said they had a positive opinion, down from 41
percent last year, according to the survey. It was done in 15 nations,
including the United States, this spring by the Washington-based Pew
Research Center.
Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56
percent, down from 71 percent); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent);
and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent). In Turkey, only 12 percent
said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year.
Declines were less steep in France, Germany and Jordan, while people in
China and Pakistan had a slightly more favorable image of the United States
this year than last. In Britain, Washington's closest ally in the Iraq war,
positive views of America have remained in the mid-50-percent range in the
past two years, down sharply from 75 percent in 2002, before the war.
Support for the fight against terrorism led by the United States is also
down, Pew found.
Although strong majorities in several countries expressed worries about
Iran's nuclear intentions, in 13 of 15 countries polled, most people said
the war in Iraq posed more of a danger to world peace. Russians held that
view by a 2-to-1 margin.
"Obviously, when you get many more people saying that the U.S. presence in
Iraq is a threat to world peace as say that about Iran, it's a measure of
how much Iraq is sapping good will to the United States," said Andrew Kohut,
president of the Pew Research Center.
The latest declines came after a year in which anti-American sentiment had
slightly receded, aided by good feeling over aid for tsunami victims and
political progress in Iraq.
The polling was conducted before the completion last week of the Iraqi
government or the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in
Mesopotamia.
These were some other findings:
{paragraf}After Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections, Germans, in a
reversal, said they sympathized more with Israel than with the Palestinians.
Support for Israel also rose in France, to 38 percent from 20 percent.
{paragraf}After the immigrants' riots and job protests in France, people in
every country but one the United States said they held dimmer views of
the French. The number of Americans favorably impressed by France rose to 52
percent, from 29 percent in 2003, when the French angered many Americans by
refusing to back the war in Iraq.
{paragraf}Only 75 percent of Americans had heard reports of abuses at Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq and at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, while 90 percent of Western Europeans and Japanese had heard about
them.
Many respondents distinguished between their largely negative feelings about
President Bush and their feelings about Americans in general.
Majorities in 7 of 14 countries polled, not including the United States, had
favorable views of Americans, led by Japan, at 82 percent, and Britain, at
69 percent. But majorities in just two countries, India and Nigeria,
expressed confidence in Mr. Bush.
After a tumultuous year in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism
is now backed by more than 50 percent of people only in Russia and India,
while support has virtually collapsed in Japan, the poll found. People in
the United States were not asked this question. But as leading powers seek
ways to contain the Iranian nuclear program, the poll found strong
majorities in Western Europe, Japan, and India sharing underlying American
concerns. The percentages of people in Britain, France and Spain who view
Tehran as a threat have roughly tripled in three years.
More than 9 in 10 Americans, Germans, Japanese and French opposed Iran's
acquiring nuclear arms.
Pew surveyed 16,710 people from March 31 to May 14 in Britain, China, Egypt,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia,
Spain, Turkey and the United States. The margin of error was two to four
percentage points in every country except Britain and Germany, where it was
six points.
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