Barack Obama is very popular
in Europe, far more than his policies. In Europe, and notably in France, the American
president seems unable to convert his very positive image into backing for
the actions of the United States.
The German Marshall Fund's annual
survey of Transatlantic
Trends shows that 78 percent of Europeans have a favorable image of president
of the United States (down 5 percent since 2009). In France his approval rating
still reaches 88 percent, which is down 6 percent.
The figures are more nuanced
when we look at the disputed chapters of American diplomacy. Less than half of
Europeans (49 percent) approve of the conduct of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In
regard to Afghanistan, only 18 percent of French think the country can be
stabilized, compared to 51 percent of Americans.
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Only 47 percent of French and
42 percent of British felt relations between the United States and European
Union are good, probably due to BP's role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The Turks, however, are much
more critical than Europeans. There, the approval rate of the American president
went from 11 percent in 2008 (Bush's last year in office) to 50 percent in 2009;
this year it dropped back to 28 percent.
The survey also shows that
the French are very circumspect about the rise of China: 63 percent believe
China is an economic threat, compared to 49 percent of Americans.
Another lesson of the survey:
the French are among the most skeptical about the euro. Only 33 percent of
French believe that the single currency was a good thing for the European
economy, compared to 45 percent of Germans and 52 percent of Dutch, for
example.
