LONDON (AFP) - People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.
The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.
- 77% of respondents disagreed with the statement that the U.S. is "a beacon of hope for the world".
- 12% of Britons trust the U.S. to act wisely on the global stage. (This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.)
- 83% of those questioned said that the U.S. doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.
- 1% consider Bush a "great leader"; 77% deem him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.
- More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination; and 81% of those who took a view said President George W. Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.
- US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24% saying they felt that the U.S. military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.
- In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and – in the most overwhelming result (90% of respondents) – dominated by big business.
[Ed.: And this is from one of our strongest allies. May you wonder what the French think of us!]
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