Disapproval of Bush nears European levels (new transatl. study)

[Stockholm]

By Daniel Dombey in Brussels and Hugh Williamson in Berlin

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.”

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

Link to key findings in the report http://www.transatlantictrends.org/doc/2006_TT_Key%20Findings%20FINAL.pdf

Link to full report http://www.transatlantictrends.org/