Support for US global leadership has faded badly in European nations, according to a survey released today.
President Bush's standing has just about evaporated in Germany where his approval rating is 16 per cent down from 36 per cent in 2002 and where public opinion increasingly questions US leadership, said the Trans-Atlantic Trends 2003 survey.
"The Germany that never sought to choose between Europe and the United States has now expressed an unambiguous preference for Europe," it said.
The Iraq war has made the trans-Atlantic divide so significant that large chunks of public opinion in France (70 per cent), Germany and Italy (both 50 per cent), Portugal (44 per cent) now see US leadership as undesirable, the poll showed.
"The trans-Atlantic split over the war in Iraq has undermined Americans' standing with Europeans," it added.
The Trans-Atlantic Trends 2003 survey found broad support on both sides of the Atlantic to strengthen the United Nations. However, 36 per cent of Americans and only 16 per cent of Europeans say it is all right to bypass the organisation to defend vital national interests, the survey found.
It said that in the wake of the Iraq war, Bush's foreign policies polled only a 30 per cent approval rating across Europe, down from 38 per cent in 2002.
In Britain and The Netherlands, Mr Bush fares better than in 2002: 35 per cent of Britons approve of his foreign policies (up from 30 per cent last year) and 37 per cent of the Dutch (up from 28 per cent ), the survey found.
AP