survey U.S Image

Survey: U.S Image Deteriorates in Asia

The Jakarta Post, September 10, 2006

TOKYO (AP): The image of the United States has deteriorated across Asia in recent years, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations, according to a survey published in a Japanese newspaper Sunday.

The seven-nation survey, jointly conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the Korea Times and the Gallup group, showed the proportion of respondents with a positive view of the U.S. image dropped in all countries from the last poll in 1995.

Positive views about the U.S. outnumbered negative ones overall, but more people said their opinion of the United States had diminished, the Yomiuri said.
"The proportion of respondents who said their perception of the United States was good slipped, and those giving negative responses increased in most of the countries compared with the results of a 1995 survey," the newspaper said.

The seven countries surveyed were Japan, India,Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The survey did not ask respondents why their views of the U.S. had diminished.
The rise of anti-U.S. sentiment was most evident in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, where respondents with negative views of the U.S. surged 30 percentage points to 41 percent.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, the percentage of negative responses jumped 16 points to 40 percent.

In South Korea, the percentage of negative respondents increased 14 percentage points to 48 percent, while in Japan, a staunch U.S. ally, negative responses rose 7 points to 25 percent.
But in India, where the question was not asked in the 1995 survey, 83 percent said their image of the U.S. was good and only 15 percent said it was bad.

In Thailand, 74 percent of respondents said the U.S. was good, while 88.6 percent of Vietnamese queried gave positive answers.

Comparisons to the 1995 survey weren't given for the two Southeast Asian nations.
More than 1,000 people were interviewed in June and July in each of the seven countries. No margin of error was provided. (***) -->