Poll: China Image Scores Better Than U.S.

The United States' popularity in many countries -- including longtime allies in Europe -- is lagging behind even communist China.
The image of the U.S. slipped sharply in 2003, after its invasion of Iraq, and two years later has shown few signs of rebounding either in Western Europe or the Muslim world, an international poll found.
''The U.S. image has improved slightly, but is still broadly negative,'' said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. ''It's amazing when you see the European public rating the United States so poorly, especially in comparison with China.''
In Britain, which prides itself on its ''special relationship'' with Washington, almost two-thirds of Britons, 65 percent, saw China favorably, compared with 55 percent who held a positive view of the United States. In France, 58 percent had an upbeat view of China, compared with 43 percent who felt that way about the U.S. The results were nearly the same in Spain and the Netherlands, the Pew poll found.