A new survey suggests that Britons take a dim view of the U.S.
The results are in the Daily Telegraph. The poll indicates that “there has probably never been a time when America was held in such low esteem on this side of the Atlantic”.
Those polled had more favorable attitudes toward Americans as individuals, with 70 percent of respondents saying they liked Americans “a lot” or “a little.” But more than two-thirds said their overall opinion of the United States had worsened in recent years.
Among the responses in the new poll, 77 percent did not see America as a “beacon of hope for the world” and, compared with similar categories in a 1975 Gallup survey, had markedly less confidence in “America’s ability to deal wisely with present world problems.”
“From this side of the Atlantic, America appears to be a class divided and racially divided society and one that fails to offer its citizens anything approaching equality of opportunity…”
“Nearly three-quarters of Britons believe American society is essentially ‘unequal.'”
Among other findings of the survey:
83 percent of respondents said the United States
“doesn’t care what the rest of the world think,”65 percent thought America “vulgar,”
84 percent said Americans are “preoccupied with money” and
90 percent said the United States was “dominated by big business.”