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Europeans Beef About Bush
It is probably fairly common knowledge that if Europeans had chosen the US President, George W Bush would be twiddling his thumbs by now and John Kerry in the Whitehouse. However, GfK Media's results from seven countries show the full extent of Bush's old world unpopularity.
At his post-election news conference on 4th of November, Bush acknowledged that some of his decisions were unpopular abroad. GfK Media's pre-election survey asked 'what result would be best for the world (or your country)' and found many more Europeans wanted John Kerry than George W Bush, with large numbers also feeling there was no difference.
Predictably perhaps, the worst results for Bush were in France - but even in the UK the prospect of a second Bush term was seen as a disturbing prospect. Only 12% of British adults felt Bush could do a better job than Kerry. Kerry received the strongest support in Germany, where 58% felt he would have made a better Commander In Chief than Bush and only 8% said the opposite.
Excluding those who could not decide between Bush and Kerry gives a more dramatic picture. In the UK 74% of those making a choice wanted Kerry as President - in Germany 88% and France 91%. Eastern Europe shows similar patterns.
The survey also looked at which sources of information are feeding into such strong views. Tanya Koshechkina, Director of GfK Media said 'it is clear from our study that national TV and national newspapers were considered the most trustworthy sources of information in Europe on the US political scene. The BBC World Service and Euro News were found to be the most trustworthy international media'.
GfK conducted omnibus surveys with 1,000 adults per country between late September and October 2004. GfK Media is online at www.gfkmedia.com
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