This section is designed as a brief summary of the findings outlined elsewhere. You can also download the complete findings as a PDF.
New research commissioned by the British Council confirms rifts in transatlantic relations with 46% of Europeans seeing the US as having a negative influence in the world today. This compares with just 20% of Americans seeing the EU’s influence as negative and 57% seeing it as positive.
Asked about the current effectiveness of European-North American co-operation on global issues, many gave a negative assessment when it came to success in tackling climate change (58% scored as negative), migration issues (53%), world poverty (65%). Only on business/trade and fighting killer diseases were citizens positive.
When asked to pinpoint the nature of their relationship on a friendship scale of 1 (like family members) to 5 (like people I would prefer never to meet), there was a marked difference between American and European views. Americans characterise their views of Europeans as a whole at 2.7 (warmer than a casual acquaintance but a bit cooler than a friend), whilst, Europeans on average characterise their relations with Americans as 3.2 on the scale (warmer than someone you would pass on a street but cooler than a casual acquaintance).
Europeans were also more likely to have strong negative stereotypes of Americans with 55% seeing Americans as being manipulative, 47% seeing them as selfish and 45% seeing them as aggressive. The most positive character trait Europeans saw in Americans was bold and daring (48%). American views of Europeans were rather more positive with 36% seeing Europeans as respectful; however 34% of Americans viewed all Europeans as snobbish.
Despite differences and stereotypes, the survey showed that the main global concerns of the countries surveyed were remarkably similar – with seven out of the nine countries (including the US) citing the environment as the main global concern.
Furthermore, when it comes to what people are prepared to do about their top global concerns, stereotypes of Americans as selfish or ‘keen consumers’ are challenged. Americans scored joint second (32% saying they would be ‘very likely’) for being likely to publish their opinion to address their top global concern (most often the environment) compared with 16% of Britons; they scored third most likely to pay more tax for their top issue (23%) vs. 16% of Britons (and 4% French); and joint third most likely to contribute financially (28%) vs. 17% of Britons and 10% of French.
And despite rifts, the majority of Europeans are in favour of building closer relationships with the United States. Nearly two thirds of Europeans (63%) surveyed said that they would support a closer relationship between Europe and the USA. Germans (74%) and Poles (77%) were the most enthusiastic; only in France was the majority against (53% against). Overwhelmingly, 91% of Americans surveyed were in favour of closer relations with Europe.
This research confirms many of the rifts shown in past research; it is clear for instance that old stereotypes die hard. However, the research clearly shows that we have a huge amount in common and a majority wants closer ties. It seems that many of the negative stereotypes and barriers facing our transatlantic partnership are based on lack of knowledge of each other and a lack of understanding.
The complete findings of this research, along with detailed graphs and tables, are organised into four themes which can be found elsewhere on this website:
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