U.S. Image Sags In Australian Poll
By RAYMOND BONNER (NYT)
Published: March 29, 2005
As the point person in the Bush administration's campaign to improve America's image in the world, Karen Hughes may face a more difficult challenge than she imagined and discover that she will have to travel far beyond the Middle East. A poll released Monday in Australia, long known for friendly relations with Americans, found that only 58 percent of the population had a positive view of the United States.
That put the United States behind China (69 percent positive), and not even in the overall Top 10 countries, regions or groups that Australians respect. They have a more positive opinion of France (66 percent) and the United Nations (65 percent), according to the poll, which was commissioned by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, a research institute with a generally center-right orientation.
The survey indicated that Australians think their leaders have been too willing to sign on with America's foreign policy ventures and should listen to the United Nations more, and are evenly divided over whether the greatest threat to the world today comes from American foreign policy or Islamic fundamentalism.
The poll surprised many here because the American-Australian relationship has long been considered special by both countries.''I have to say that the results of the survey have jolted some of my assumptions,'' said Allan Gyngell, executive director of the Lowy Institute.
The poll was based on interviews with 1,000 Australians, and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The results are online at www.lowyinstitute.org.