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World View of US Role Goes From Bad to Worse
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EUROPE
Great Britain: A majority (57%) continues to see US influence in the world as mainly negative, while just 33 percent sees US influence as mainly positive—down slightly from 36 percent in 2006. Britons have significantly negative views of US handling of foreign policy issues, with an overwhelming majority disapproving of US actions on the war on Iraq (81%), as well as its treatment of detainees at Guantanamo and other prisons (76%), the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon (70%), and Iran’s nuclear program (64%). Issues receiving lower levels of disapproval are the US approach to global warming (79%) and the handling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program (55%). More than 7 in 10 Britons (72%) sees the US military presence in the Middle East as “provoking more conflict than it prevents;” just 14 percent believe that the US is a “stabilizing force” in the region.
Germany: German views of US influence have worsened significantly over the last year, with negative attitudes increasing from 65 to 74 percent. Only 16 percent of respondents say they have a mostly positive view of US influence in the world, down from 21 percent. Negative attitudes about the US are also reflected in German views of US handling the war in Iraq, with an overwhelming 88 percent disapproving of the US approach to this issue. Germans also judge the United States harshly on its handling of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo (89% disapprove), global warming (84% disapprove) and the Israel-Hezbollah war (74% disapprove). Significant majorities disapprove of the approach to Iran’s nuclear program (64%), as well as to North Korea’s nuclear situation (56%). Nearly three in four Germans (73%) believes the US is a destabilizing force in the Middle East, with just 17 percent saying the US military presence is a stabilizing element.
France: French views of the United States remain quite negative, showing little change over the previous year after sharply worsening from 2005 to 2006. Seven in ten (69%) say the US is having a mainly negative influence in the world, only slightly greater than the 65 percent who held this view in 2006. Only one in four (24%) has a mainly positive view of the US. The French view US actions in foreign policy even more negatively: 92 percent disapprove of US handling of the war in Iraq, 86 percent disapprove on global warming, 82 percent criticize the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, and 81 percent disapprove of US actions in the Israel-Hezbollah war. Attitudes about the US approach to the two nuclear situations are slightly less negative, but large majorities still disapprove of US handling of Iran’s nuclear program (77%) and North Korea’s nuclear weapons (67%). Eighty percent of respondents in France see the US military presence as provoking more conflict than it prevents in the Middle East; fewer than one in ten (9%) see it as a “stabilizing force.”
Russia: Russians have become somewhat more negative about US influence in the world over the past year, increasing from 52 to 59 the percent that believe the US has a mostly negative influence in the world. Attitudes about US foreign policy are not quite as negative in Russia as many other countries, with the exception of a large majority disapproving of the US handling of the war in Iraq (82%). Significant majorities still disapprove of US actions in the Israel-Hezbollah war (64%), Iran’s nuclear program (64%), and US treatment of detainees at Guantanamo (57%). Only a plurality (36%) disapproves of the US approach to global warming, and about one quarter (26%) of Russians approve of the US on this issue. Russians clearly view the US military presence in the Middle East as a disruptive force; nearly three in four (72%) say that it provokes more conflict than it prevents, and just 7 percent say it is a stabilizing force.
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World View of US Role Goes From Bad to Worse
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