EUROPEAN SUPPORT for US foreign policy has soared since US President Barack Obama took over control of the White House from George Bush.
But differences remain over important issues such as support for the war in Afghanistan and how to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, according to a new Transatlantic trends poll published by the German Marshall Fund of the US.
Three-quarters of people in the EU and Turkey (77 per cent) say they support Mr Obama’s handling of foreign policy, compared with just 19 per cent who approved of former president Bush’s foreign policy. The most pronounced change in attitudes occurred in Germany, where support rose 80 percentage points to 92 per cent, and in France where support grew by 77 percentage points to 88 per cent.
Even in Turkey, where only half of people say they support Mr Obama, that backing represents a 42 percentage point increase over the approval of Mr Bush in the same poll 2008.
“We see a remarkable shift in transatlantic opinion from the previous administration,” said Craig Kennedy, president of the George Marshall Fund.
Despite growing European support for US foreign policy and transatlantic security co-operation, the poll highlights significant differences in views towards a range of policy approaches to Afghanistan and Iran.
Some 63 per cent of Europeans are pessimistic about stabilising the situation in Afghanistan while a majority of Americans (56 per cent) remain optimistic about the war. And if diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons stall, almost half of Americans favour keeping military options open while only a fifth of Europeans polled agree.
Europeans and Americans also diverge on their approach to climate change. Almost two-thirds of Europeans said everything should be done to prevent climate change, even if those measures slowed economic growth. Just four in 10 American respondents agreed.
The survey was conducted in June with 1,000 people interviewed in the US and each of the 12 EU states where polling was conducted.