Not all the news was terribly bad; for example, 62% of the French (and 68% of those under 35) said they appreciated the U.S. a lot or some. But some of the other answers were less satisfying. For example, when asked for the first word that came to them when they think of the U.S., these were the most frequent responses:
Not very satisfying to think that "liberty" is below "Bush", but there it is. (Interestingly, the biggest difference in response between French men and women was the response "New York" -- 11% of the women said that was the first word they thought of, but only 4% of French men. I can't be sure, but I believe shopping has something to do with this.) Even sadder are the items that got only a 1% response:
Sad, here, to see that the frequency with which Barack Obama is associated with the U.S. is the same as for "arrogance," "violence," "pollution," "consumerism," and "obesity." Perhaps that will change after November.
Worse are the "everyday" associations. For example, when asked to give three words that best characterize the U.S. in connection with everyday life, these were the (often horrific) responses:
Fast food, number one. Ouch. Some are cool, though ... basketball, jeans, popcorn. Some are bizarre and, to me, almost inexplicable. Mobile homes? Motels? Cheesecake? Maybe I've missed something.
Sad and a bit bizarre, too, are the popular singers associated with the U.S. Note that for this question, it appears that the respondents had to choose three names from a list. How the list was constructed, I haven't a clue. Here are the results:
I guess I can live with this, although seeing Louis Armstrong and Madonna back to back makes me shake my head, as does any list containing the two words "Britney Spears."
For those of you interested in more details and a few extra questions that I didn't mention, the entire survey can be obtained here.
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