Do the Math As the Republicans begin plotting their mid-term election strategy, they may be having some trouble doing the math. Although the office of the president is perfectly secure, George W. Bush will nonetheless be wearing some new worry furrows on his doughy forehead. While the general population seems to think no more of the Democrats than they ever have in the post-Clinton era, they are suddenly frowning upon the ruling Party as well. There's no point going into why that might be the case. It should be pretty obvious by this time. As it turns out, the feelings of Americans are a latent reflection of global concern. Since statistics are now a permanent part of our daily regimen, someone out there (The Pew Global Attitudes Project) had the good sense to ask the citizens of other countries whether or not they had a favorable opinion of the United States. They also did the same thing about six years ago, providing a baseline by which to measure American popularity abroad. While not substantiated by this particular survey, it is clear that this backslide did not begin merely with the election of a Republican president. The real erosion began long after September 11th, 2001, a point when the world stood by us, almost in unison. In the years since, "9/11" has become a rallying cry only for conservatives. The rest of us are sickened by the cheap partisan buckboard that has been harnessed to that hallowed time and place in our history. Of course, it would be fallacy to conclude that such opinions are based solely on the performance of the GOP, but neither can one deny that U.S. foreign policy has been, to say the least, overt in recent years. That influence cannot be ignored, as we have gone and done some things that have fairly reverberated throughout the world community. Generally speaking, our nation is not viewed nearly as favorably as it was at the end of the last millennium. Three-fourths of Germans, for instance, used to hold us in fairly high esteem. Today, that number has declined to 41 percent. The French also liked America (and damn well they should), with 62 percent giving us high marks in the first poll. In 2005, only 43 percent still keep the faith. In Spain, we were just fifty-fifty back in 2000, but now they're tied with Germany. Even the British, our main ally in the war in Iraq, have regressed mightily, from a whopping 83 percent to a mere 55 percent. Our neighbors in Canada are just slightly better with 59 percent, but that's down from a pre-Bush 71 percent. The trend in countries with predominantly Muslim populations is much worse. Barely one out of every five Jordanians views us favorably. More than three out of four Turks have come to dislike us - we were okey-dokey with more than half of them in 2000. Indonesia gave us a healthy 75 percent approval rating a few years ago, but it has plummeted to 38 percent. The only real traction has been in Pakistan, where they still hate us just as much today (23 percent) as they did back then. Don't fret, though. The news can't be all bleak. That would be terribly depressing, so know that Poland has pegged us at a lofty 62 percent (although there is no comparable previous statistic). Oddly enough, it also turns out that our good standing has improved immensely among, of all people, the Russians. We're up 15 points with them, all the way to 52 percent... Go figure. Again, one should not infer that the "Arab Street" or the "Euro Street" or any other street equivocates its view of the United States solely with the Bush administration or the Republican Party. There are probably a whole host of reasons behind each individual answer, but it's a safe wager that all of their crabby recipes share a common ingredient. In the end, it does not matter what any foreigner thinks of the United States. Whatever their stake might be, they have no control over what we do. Only the American people have an opinion that matters around here, and that opinion is being voiced loudly and clearly these days. For now, it makes no difference. Just because the little pitcher has big ears doesn't mean he's capable of listening. Paul Heller 7/06/05 << back to the archives
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