European public opinion of President George W. Bush has been helped by his response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but Europeans remain sharply critical of the unilateral approach they say Bush takes in international affairs, a new survey shows.
Europeans remain less supportive than Americans of the U.S.-led counterterrorism campaign and of the idea of attacking Iraq to remove President Saddam Hussein.
--But the survey found that the West European allies were open to being persuaded that Saddam posed dangers. And while Europeans broadly approve of U.S. efforts to halt Israeli-Palestinian violence, they differ sharply with Americans in assessing blame for the crisis. Americans tend to support Israel, while most West Europeans strongly side with the Palestinians. The survey was conducted by the nonprofit Pew Research Center, in association with the International Herald Tribune and the Council on Foreign Relations. At least 1,000 people were polled from April 2 to 9 in the United States and each of four countries: Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Bush's image in Europe was damaged in the early months of the administration, which took office in January 2001, by a series of moves Europeans and others considered unilateral. A continuing sense of U.S. unilateralism appears to have fueled support in the four survey countries for greater European independence on security and diplomatic affairs.
But the American president's image clearly was helped by what was viewed as the effective conduct of the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan. That campaign received near-unanimous support from Americans and strong approval - from 6 in 10 to 7 in 10 - in Europe.
"Europeans, like Americans, changed their minds about Bush in a positive direction post-Sept. 11," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew center. Bush has moved in European eyes "from very bad to improving," he said.
But the poll found limits to the European support. Europeans continue to disapprove strongly of some Bush policies and rhetoric. They sharply resented his recent imposition of tariffs on steel imports, a move that will hurt some European economies.
And large majorities of Europeans (up to 85 percent of Germans) said that the United States was not taking the allies' interests into account in its conduct of the war on terror.
This, said Kenneth Pollack, director of national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, could eventually be the most troubling of the poll findings for the White House.
The Bush administration, he said, "does not appear to have convinced European publics that the war on terrorism is their war." The European view, he said, is that "Washington is waging the war on terrorism for its own good" and not necessarily for theirs or for the good of "humanity in general."
That feeling could erode Europeans' support for their governments' continued backing of the U.S.-led campaign, Pollack said.
Already, significant minorities in Britain (35 percent) and Italy (27 percent) believe that their governments have been too supportive of U.S. terrorism policies. Significant majorities in Britain and Germany said that U.S. actions were making things more dangerous in their own countries, not less.
"One can wonder whether being too close to the Americans could become painful for European leaders," Kohut said.
Americans and Europeans also parted ways on the possibility of military action against Iraq. Significantly, however, the Europeans were open to arguments in favor of an attack.
While 7 in 10 Americans supported action to depose Saddam, the highest level of backing in Europe was 46 percent, from the British and the French.
Majorities in Britain, France and Germany, however, said that if Baghdad were shown to be developing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, it would become "very important" to attack Iraq.
Kohut said he was impressed by the evidence that Europeans could be "convinced with a message about weapons of mass destruction."
"That's the case the Bush administration is going to try to make: that this regime represents a danger to the world," Kohut said. "The Europeans are not immovable on that."
There was a sharply negative reaction in Europe to Bush's denunciation in late January of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" whose members seek powerful weapons and traffic with terrorists. Only 1 German in 6 approved of the formulation, while in the United States 56 percent of respondents approved of the phrase, and people who identified themselves as Republicans endorsed it overwhelmingly.
Americans traditionally have had more sympathy for Israel than for Palestinians, and at times since Sept. 11 those feelings have grown stronger, as Israeli deaths have risen from deadly bombings.
--But Europeans' traditional sympathy for Palestinians appears to have grown amid sharp Israeli counterattacks on Palestinian targets. About 40 percent of Americans said they sympathized with Israel, compared to 13 percent who sided with the Palestinians. In the four European countries, no more than a quarter of respondents (in Germany) sympathized with Israel. The French had the most sympathy for Palestinians, at 36 percent, to 19 percent who sympathized with Israel.
Kohut said that pro-Palestinian views were broadly held in Europe and not restricted to the large Muslim populations.
With concerns about the recent violence on both sides, Europeans gave strong support to the recent U.S. diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis. Nearly 9 in 10 Italians backed those efforts, as did 76 percent of Germans, 75 percent of the British and 67 percent of the French. The sense that the Bush administration's acts abroad are based overwhelmingly on its own interests - a belief held by majorities in Europe even before Sept. 11 - appears to have fueled broad support in the European countries for greater European independence on security and diplomatic affairs.
Majorities in France, Germany and Italy said that the West European partnership with the United States should not be as close as it has been; the British were split on the question.
The public in every European country said by more than 2 to 1 that the United States was not overreacting to the threat of terrorism. There was sharp division, however, over the U.S. decision to try some Al Qaeda prisoners before special military tribunals rather than in civilian courts.
While Americans supported the policy by more than 2 to 1, only half of the British, Germans and Italians approved, as did only 4 in 10 French respondents.
Viewed in general terms, however, support for the U.S.-led military campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda was very strong. More than 8 in 10 Americans supported it, as did more than 7 in 10 in Britain. In France, Germany and Italy, support neared 6 in 10.
Copyright © 2001 The International Herald Tribune