US President George W. Bush has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world toward the US since the Sept. 11 attacks with public opinion in 10 leading countries -- including some of its closest allies -- growing more hostile to the US while he has been in office.
According to a survey, voters in eight out of the 10 countries want to see the Democrat challenger, Senator John Kerry, defeat Bush in the US presidential election.
The poll, conducted by 10 of the world's leading newspapers, including France's Le Monde, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, Canada's La Presse, the Sydney Morning Herald and the London-based Guardian, also shows that on balance world opinion does not believe that the war in Iraq has made a positive contribution to the fight against terror.
The results show that in Australia, the UK, Canada, France, Japan, Spain and South Korea a majority of voters share a rejection of the Iraq invasion, contempt for the Bush administration, a growing hostility to the US and a not-too-strong endorsement of Kerry.
But they all make a clear distinction between this kind of anti-Americanism and expressing a dislike of American people. On average 68 percent of those polled say they have a favorable opinion of Americans.
The 10-country poll suggests that rarely has a US administration faced such isolation and lack of public support among its closest allies.
The only exceptions to this trend are the Israelis, who back Bush 2-1 over Kerry and see the US as their security umbrella, and the Russians, who, despite their traditional anti-Americanism, recorded unexpectedly favorable attitudes toward the US in the survey conducted in the immediate aftermath of the Beslan tragedy.
Sixty percent of British voters say they don't like Bush, rising to a startling 77 percent among those under 25.
The rejection of Bush is strongest in France, where 72 percent say they would back Kerry, but it is also very strong in traditionally very pro-American South Korea, where fears of a pre-emptive US strike against North Korea have translated into 68 percent support for Kerry.
In Britain the growth in anti-Americanism is not so marked as in France, Japan, Canada, South Korea or Spain, where more than 60 percent say their view of the US has deteriorated since Sept. 11.
But a sizeable and emerging minority -- 45 percent -- of British voters say their image of the US has got worse in the past three years and only 15 percent say it has improved.
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