Obama Charms European Hearts, Leaves Skeptical Minds (Update1)
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By James G. Neuger
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama has restored European enthusiasm for the U.S. that was shattered during the Bush administration, while the new president’s policies find fewer fans, a survey showed.
Obama’s 77 percent approval rating in Europe dwarfs the 19 percent of George W. Bush at the end of his term, according to a poll released today by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Italian foundation Compagnia di San Paolo.
Much of the infatuation stops there. Europeans oppose a troop buildup in Afghanistan, the hallmark of Obama’s foreign policy, rule out military options on Iran and want more aggressive steps to fight climate change.
“We haven’t seen this kind of bounce in 50 years of trans- Atlantic polling,” Ronald Asmus, head of the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels office, said in a telephone interview. “There’s this huge Obama popularity and there are differences on policy, and eventually the two will meet. Either his popularity will gradually chip away at the policy differences, or the policy differences will start to bring down his popularity.”
The seventh annual survey of 13,000 people was conducted in the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Poland, Turkey and six other European countries between June 9 and July 1. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Obama has won international plaudits for reversing Bush decisions, including pledges to pull U.S. troops from Iraq, shut the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terrorism suspects and rebuild ties to the Muslim world.
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