U.S. Portrayed As Arrogant in Global Poll
By AUDREY WOODS
Associated Press Writer

June 18, 2003, 1:40 PM EDT

LONDON -- A sampling of public opinion in 11 nations finds many see the
United States as an arrogant superpower that poses a greater danger to
world peace than North Korea.

President Bush failed to impress 58 percent of those questioned by
pollsters for a British Broadcasting Corp. broadcast Tuesday night. They
said they had a fairly unfavorable or very unfavorable view of the
American president. If the American respondents were removed from the
sample, the number rose to 60 percent.

The poll questioned 11,000 people in May and June in 11 nations:
Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan,
Russia, South Korea and the United States. The poll was conducted by
pollsters including ICM in Britain and IPSOS Reid in the United States.
The BBC did not estimate a margin of error.

Not all the news was bad for the United States.

Even though 67 percent said they wouldn't want their countries to copy
U.S. economic policies, 67 percent would aspire to U.S. gains in science
and technology, and 56 percent to the opportunities for advancement
available to people in the United States. Forty percent aspired to U.S.
freedom of expression.

But the way the United States wields its power worried many of those
questioned for the program, "What the World Thinks of America."

Only 25 percent -- excluding Americans -- said U.S. military might was
making the world a safer place.

Forty-one percent agreed with Prime Minister Tony Blair's opinion that
the United States is a force for good in the world, and 55 disagreed.

Sixty-five percent overall -- and a majority in every country, including
the United States -- said America is arrogant. Forty-seven percent said
America is friendly, and 33 percent find the United States antagonistic.


Fifty-six percent said the United States was wrong to attack Iraq. That
number reached 81 percent in Russia and 63 percent in France, two
nations that led world opposition to the war. Overall, 37 percent said
the war was right -- 54 percent in Britain, 74 percent in the United
States and 79 percent in Israel.

The al-Qaida terrorist organization was ranked more dangerous than the
United States, but the Americans were judged to be a greater threat than
Russia, China, Syria and two members of Bush's Axis of Evil -- Iran and
North Korea.

Even in South Korea, where tensions along the Demilitarized Zone run
high, 48 percent of respondents judged the United States to be a greater
threat to world peace than the communist neighbors to the north, with
their nuclear program.

In a studio panel of commentators, former British Cabinet member Clare
Short, who quit her post to protest the invasion of Iraq, said
post-Sept. 11 America was "a wounded giant, full of anger ... that feels
it's got to exercise its power all over the world; I think that's
becoming a frightening America."

Fifty percent of the poll respondents said they had a fairly positive or
very positive view of the United States, compared with 40 percent who
had unfavorable views. Those figures excluded Americans.

Many said their own countries were becoming more like America -- 81
percent of Australians agreed with that statement, as did 64 percent of
Britons and 63 percent of Israelis.

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