World Public Opinion

Most in Multinational Poll Favor U.N. Peacekeeping Force for Lebanon; Half of Countries Willing to Send Troops

Most of those surveyed in a 33-nation poll by Gallup International agree that a U.N. peacekeeping force is needed on the Israeli-Lebanese border. In half of the countries polled a majority or plurality is willing to send their own troops.

Seven out of ten (72%) of those surveyed by Gallup International during the second and third week of August agreed that a “U.N. peacekeeping force should be present in the region” as a buffer between Israel and Jordan. Most Israelis (62%) and three out of four (75%) Lebanese are also in favor.

A French peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, August 2006. (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

In sixteen countries, a majority or plurality was willing to contribute troops, according to figures released by Roy Morgan Research, one of the pollsters participating in the survey. Majorities or pluralities favored sending troops in six of the 17 European countries polled. Substantial majorities wanted to send forces in all six of the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed (including Kosovo, a U.N.-administered province of the former Yugoslavia). Also expressing a willingness to send troops were New Zealand, India, Cameroon and South Africa

In Europe, Scandinavians were the most likely to be in favor of participating in a Mideast peacekeeping force. Substantial majorities in Norway and Sweden (both 67%) favored dispatching troops to Lebanon. Most Irish (66%) and Luxembourgers (54%) also supported contributing forces. All four have a history of participation in international peacekeeping operations. Pluralities favored contributing troops in Iceland (49%) and Finland (49%).

European nations have promised to dispatch a total of 6,900 peacekeepers to the region, almost half of the 15,000-member contingent authorized by the U.N. Security Council. Italy, which was not included in the Gallup International Survey, will provide 2,500 troops, the largest national contingent so far. Also not included in the survey were France, which is sending 2,000 troops in addition to the 400 French peacekeepers already there, and Germany. Although Germany has ruled out deploying ground troops, its government is considering taking charge of an international naval force along the Lebanese coast to stop the flow of arms.

Majorities in the five predominantly Muslim countries surveyed thought their government should send forces to Lebanon, if asked. Lebanese (78%) were overwhelmingly in favor of taking part in the U.N. operation on their southern border. Morocco (76%) was the next most enthusiastic country, followed by Pakistan (70%) and Senegal (63%). Sixty percent were also in favor in Kosovo, which still has international peacekeepers on its own soil.

Israel, however, has said it would be reluctant to cooperate with a U.N. force including Muslim nations that do not recognize the Jewish state. Of the Muslim countries surveyed, only Senegal has diplomatic relations with Israel.

Others expressing willingness were New Zealanders (56%) and a bare majority of Indians (51%). Pluralities in Cameroon (50% agreed, 46% disagreed) and South Africa (46% agreed, 38% disagreed) would also be willing to send troops.

Those unwilling to send peacekeepers included key members of the U.S-led “coalition of the willing” in Iraq: Americans, 54 percent of whom said the U.S. military should not contribute forces, Australians (51%) and the British (51%). Canada, which is a major contributor to the international coalition in Afghanistan, was divided on the question of sending peacekeepers to Lebanon: 46 percent did not want their military to participate while 44 percent did.

Gallup International also probed international attitudes toward Israel and Hezbollah, though it did not release a breakdown of its results by country.

Among the key findings:

• More than half of those surveyed overall (51%) agreed that Israeli actions were “increasing support for Hezbollah.”

• Most (57%) considered Hezbollah to be a “terrorist organization” over which the “Lebanese government has no control” (58%).

• Substantial majorities (63%) said “the United States should not interfere in the conflict.”

• Overwhelming majorities (76%) agreed that “there can be no peace in the region without a settlement of the Israel/Palestine issue."

U.S. and Venezuela Lead World in National Pride

Presidents Bush and Chávez may represent opposite poles of the hemispheric political spectrum but the people of the United States and Venezuela have something in common: both are brimming with national pride.

A 33-country survey by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, released June 27, 2006, measured pride across ten specific domains: democracy, world political influence, economic system, social security, science, sports, arts, military might, history and fair and equal treatment of groups.

Americans expressed the most national pride in five of the domains: their democracy, political influence, economic system, science, and military. Venezuelans expressed the most pride in four categories: sports, the arts, history and treatment of groups. The only other country to reach number one in a category was France, which expressed the most pride in its social security programs.

Those scoring lowest on the domain-specific questions were eastern Germans. Second to last were the Poles, followed by the Slovakians, Koreans, Latvians and Taiwanese.

The survey also asked questions designed to assess general national pride, such as to what extent people agreed with such statements as, “I would rather be a citizen of my country than any other country in the world,” and “Generally speaking, my country is a better country than most countries.”

On these questions Venezuelans were even more patriotic than Americans: Venezuelans had a score of 18.4 (out of a possible 25), while Americans had a score of 17.7, followed by Australians (17.5), Austrians (17.4), South Africans (17), Canadians (17), Chileans (17.1), New Zealanders (16.6) and Israelis (16.2).

Six in Ten Poles Oppose U.S. Anti-Missile Base

Poles are among the few nations that hold generally positive views of the United States. But a poll published Aug. 10, 2006, in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita found that 63 percent of Poles were against allowing the United States to build an anti-missile site on Polish soil. Less than a quarter of those surveyed (23%) were in favor and 14 percent expressed no opinion.

The New York Times reported in May that the Pentagon was considering deploying 10 anti-missile interceptors in Europe by 2011. The shield would be designed to deflect an attack by Iran against the United States or Europe. Two countries were mentioned as possible locations for the base: Poland and the Czech Republic.

The polling firm GfK Polonia asked 983 Poles about the issue from Aug. 4-6.

Poland, which still has more than 1,000 troops deployed in Iraq, is one of the United States’ closest allies in Europe. It is also one of the few nations where public attitudes toward the United States have improved over the past year, according to a 33-nation poll completed in January 2006 by GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes for the BBC World Service. Sixty-two percent of Poles expressed a positive opinion about the United States in the 2006 poll, up from 52 percent in 2005. Poland was one of only eight countries where a majority viewed the United States favorably

Chile’s Urban Poor Perceive Widespread Corruption in Government

Business leaders have given Chile a relatively clean bill of health on corruption. But poorer Chileans may disagree. A survey conducted in the capital of Santiago shows that nine out of ten of the urban poor (87%) think corruption permeates all levels of government.

The School of Administration and Economics at Santiago’s Universidad Católica Silva Henriquez found in a study released Aug. 8, 2006, that the poor perceived Congress and the Supreme Court as the most corrupt institutions. The low-income respondents thought that fire departments, universities and high schools were the least corrupt.

Respondents were also pessimistic about the prospects for successfully combating corruption. Sixty-one percent agreed that “very little can be done to put a stop to corruption.” That is an increase from similar polls taken in 2003 and 2004 when about half (53-54 percent) agreed with the statement. Moreover, most of those surveyed think the problem is getting worse. Seven out of ten (73%) said that corruption was “more serious than a year ago.”

The study involved face-to-face interviews conducted in December 2005 with 354 residents of the poorest neighborhoods in Santiago, including Cerrillos, Cerro Navia, Conchalí, Puente Alto, Renca, San Bernardo, and San Ramón. The results have a 4.1 percent margin of error.

Lead investigator Marcelo Yáñez Pérez said in a press release that the results showed that the poor did not see any benefits from efforts by the Chilean government in recent years to combat corruption and promote greater transparency.

“In the three years that this study has been done,” he said, “the negative perception of the poor people of Santiago has been almost unchanged.”

In contrast, business people and experts have relatively positive perceptions of Chile. According to an index published by Transparency International, a research network that monitors corruption around the world, Chile is Latin America’s least corrupt country. Chile had a 2005 “corruption perception index” or CPI of 7.3, the same as Japan. The CPI is calculated from data collected in surveys of business leaders and country experts.

Presidents of Bolivia, Argentina Get Highest Approval Ratings in Latin America

Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina are the most popular heads of state in Latin America, according to polls taken in the spring of 2006 and compiled by Consulta Mitofsky.

Eight out of ten of those polled in Bolivia (81%) and Argentina (80%) expressed approval for their presidents, both of whom have generated controversy abroad with their nationalistic policies. Morales nationalized Bolivia’s natural gas fields in May, angering their mainly Brazilian and Spanish owners. Kirchner has gained notoriety for refusing to allow foreign-owned utility and financial service companies to increase rates.

Next in popularity were presidents Álvaro Uribe of Colombia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, both of whom enjoyed 70 percent approval ratings. But Uribe and Chávez represent opposite ends of the political spectrum in South America. Chávez is known for his fiery anti-United States rhetoric. Uribe is a close-ally of Washington and a major recipient of U.S. anti-narcotics aid.

The Consulta Mitofsky report compiles the results of polls taken in 15 Latin American countries from April through June.

The least popular leader in Latin America, as of Consulta Mitofksy’s report, was Ecuador’s Alfredo Palacio (21%), who took office in April after Congress ousted President Lucio Gutierrez. But Palacio’s presidency, like his predecessor's, has been crippled by strikes and protests. Former presidents Abel Pacheco of Costa Rica, who left office in May, and Alejandro Toledo of Peru, who finished his term in July, also ranked low in popularity, with 23 percent and 32 percent approval ratings, respectively. Both presidents were faulted for failing to do more to combat poverty, though Peru enjoyed robust economic growth of more than six percent during the last year of Toledo’s term.

Only these heads of state were less popular than U.S. president George W. Bush, whose approval rating has ranged between 30 percent and 40 percent over the past three months.

President Vicente Fox of Mexico followed Uribe and Chavez as one of the most popular presidents, with a 62 percent approval rating, according to polls taken in May. If these rates hold, Mexico’s president will leave office in December with about the same approval ratings he enjoyed at the start of his term in 2001, when he averaged 63 percent approval. Fox’s average approval dipped to its lowest yearly average of 52 percent in 2002.

The Dominican Republic’s Leonel Fernández and Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tied for sixth place among serving presidents with 58 percent approval ratings. Fernández leads a center-right government that took office two years ago during an economic crisis. Lula, who faces re-election in October, is a founder of the center-left Workers’ Party. The popularity of Lula, who is running for re-election in October, slipped earlier this year when corruption scandals buffeted his government. Nonetheless, polls taken in August by Datafolha and Sensus indicate that he may have enough of a lead over his closest rivals to win in the first round of voting.