Views on US drop sharply in worldwide opinion poll

Global opinion of US foreign policy has sharply deteriorated in the past two years, according to a BBC poll released on the eve of President Bush's Jan. 23 State of the Union address. Nearly three-quarters of those polled in 25 countries disapprove of US policies toward Iraq, and more than two-thirds said the US military presence in the Middle East does more harm than good. Nearly half of those polled in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East said the United States is now playing a mainly negative role in the world. More than 26,000 people were questioned for the survey. In the 18 countries previously polled by the BBC, people who said the United States was having a generally positive influence in the world dropped to 29 percent, from 36 percent last year and 40 percent the year before. "I thought it had bottomed out a year ago, but it's gotten worse, and we really are at historic lows," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes. Kull attributed much of the problem to a growing perception of "hypocrisy" on the part of the United States in such areas as cooperation with the United Nations and other international bodies, especially involving the use of military force. "The thing that comes up repeatedly is not just anger about Iraq," Kull said, adding that the BBC poll is consistent with numerous other surveys around the world that have measured attitudes toward the United States. "The common theme is hypocrisy. The reaction tends to be: 'You were a champion of a certain set of rules. Now you are breaking your own rules, so you are being hypocritical.'" The BBC survey found that a majority of those polled hold negative views on US policies on a wide range of issues. Sixty-seven percent disapproved of US handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Sixty-five percent disliked the US stance on last summer's military conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, 60 percent opposed US policies on Iran's nuclear program, 56 percent opposed Washington's position on global climate change and 54 percent disapproved of US policies toward North Korea. "If this keeps up, it's going to be very difficult for the United States to exercise its moral suasion in the world," Miller said. The survey of 26,381 people was conducted in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. The polling took place from November to January. Globally, the most common view in 23 of the 25 countries is that the United States is causing more Middle East conflict than it is preventing.