Bulgaria Happy with America's Cultural Influence in the World - Survey

Society | June 19, 2009, Friday // 12:18
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Happy with America's Cultural Influence in the World - Survey None of the countries included in the survey gave US political influence more positive than negative marks for the past five years. Photo by online.wsj.com

Bulgaria is one of the few European countries, where more respondents said America's cultural influence in the world was positive (29%) than those who said it was negative (25%), shows a survey of The Wall Street Journal.

To study Europeans' view of America's culture contributions and broader questions about what the world thinks of America and what Americans think of themselves, The Wall Street Journal asked market-research firm GfK to poll more than 18,000 people in 18 countries -- 16 European nations, plus the US and Russia.

GfK polled respondents about the facets of American culture they admire and those they dislike and asked them whether they viewed US political influence in a positive or negative light.

Among European respondents, 32% said US cultural influence was negative, compared to 26% who gave a positive response. Americans were slightly more downbeat than average, with 46% of those surveyed saying their country has a negative cultural influence in the world, compared with 33% who describe it as positive.

Several countries surveyed, among which Bulgaria, had more positive than negative votes. In Italy, 39% of respondents had a positive impression of US cultural influence, compared with 25% who gave a negative answer. The UK (38% to 31%), Poland (32% to 24%) and Romania (29% to 26%) also logged more positive than negative responses.

None of the countries included in the survey gave US political influence more positive than negative marks for the past five years. But some countries were less negative than others. Thirty-two percent of Romanian respondents said US political influence was negative, the lowest level in the survey. Bulgaria (40%) and Poland (41%) were close behind.

Many of the countries that had a less negative view of US political influence over the past five years were among the least enthused about Obama's presidency. In Poland, 45% of those surveyed said Obama's election marked a "positive" or "very positive" change in US political influence. Romania (47%) and Bulgaria (48%) were close behind.

 

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