US disapproval of Bush nearing European levels

[sabra]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14699854/

US disapproval of Bush nearing European levels

Public opinion in Europe and the US is converging against President George W. Bush, according to a new transatlantic survey released on Wednesday.

While 77 per cent of EU citizens disapprove of Mr Bush's handling of international affairs, the figure in the US is now 58 per cent, according to the annual Transatlantic Trends poll of 13,000 people in 12 European nations and the US.

This is the first time in the five-year history of the poll that more Americans disapprove than approve of Mr Bush's international stance. During that time, European disapproval of the US has risen by more than 20 percentage points, while the proportion of Europeans who favour US leadership of world affairs has fallen from 64 to 37 per cent.

"Every single US official says the transatlantic relationship has improved, but Europeans have made their mind up on Bush," said Ron Asmus, of the German Marshall Fund, which carried out the survey together with the Compagnia di San Paolo, an Italian non-profit organisation. "But Americans and Europeans do not have a fundamental difference on threats and there you have a basis for co-operation."

[sinkingfeeling]

1. What a beautiful headline!!

[Spazito]

2. Interesting article, thanks for posting

The info about Turkey and the poll results re Iran are also very interesting, I was unaware the majority in Turkey would accept a nuclear-armed Iran while only 10% would support military action to stop it.

[Up2Late]

3. That's one of the best headlines in a long time! Here's the FT link

<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e35d9114-3dcc-11db-bd60-0000779e2340.html>

US disapproval of Bush near European levels

By Daniel Dombey in Brussels and Hugh Williamson in Berlin

Published: September 6 2006 18:32 | Last updated: September 6 2006 18:32

Public opinion in Europe and the US is converging against President George W. Bush, according to a new transatlantic survey released on Wednesday.

While 77 per cent of EU citizens disapprove of Mr Bush’s handling of international affairs, the figure in the US is now 58 per cent, according to the annual Transatlantic Trends poll of 13,000 people in 12 European nations and the US.

This is the first time in the five-year history of the poll that more Americans disapprove than approve of Mr Bush’s international stance. During that time, European disapproval of the US has risen by more than 20 percentage points, while the proportion of Europeans who favour US leadership of world affairs has fallen from 64 to 37 per cent.

“Every single US official says the transatlantic relationship has improved, but Europeans have made their mind up on Bush,” said Ron Asmus, of the German Marshall Fund, which carried out the survey together with the Compagnia di San Paolo, an Italian non-profit organisation. “But Americans and Europeans do not have a fundamental difference on threats and there you have a basis for co-operation.”

(more at link) <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e35d9114-3dcc-11db-bd60-0000779e2340.html>

[Drum]

4. Me likey! n/t