U.S. Image in the World.

A new poll about 'U.S. Image in the World' shows that anti-Americanism is not as high in the world today as it was during the U.S.-led war with Iraq, but the overall image of Uncle Sam is till - to nobody's surprise - very negative throughout the world.
There is a few interesting elements to underline, however:

• It seems however that such a negative view is very much linked to president Bush except for India (to the great delight of Thomas Friedman no doubt)

• The American people are basically seen as 'hardworking and honest' but 'too religious' while most a majority of Americans think of themselves as not religious enough, thus in agreement with... muslim countries.:

"The biggest gap between the way Americans are seen by other Western countries and the way they see themselves," the poll said, "is with respect to religion." Majorities in France and the Netherlands and large numbers of people in Great Britain, Germany, Canada and Spain "see the U.S. as too religious," Pew reported."By contrast, a 54 percent majority of Americans say their country is not religious enough," the poll said "On this point, Muslims find themselves in rare agreement with the American public. Majorities in Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Turkey all believe the United States is not religious enough."

So in other words, when it comes to religion, Americans have more in common with their Muslim brothers than with their European cousins.
Favorability ratings of the United States - while well below levels of 2002, before a trans-Atlantic gulf opened over Iraq - improved slightly even in France and Germany, as both sides have sought to mend the earlier wounds. says the I.H.T.
My theory (largely influenced by André Kaspi) is that in France, the elite is much more anti-American than the people, while in Germany it tends to be the opposite. )

One last note: Germans strikingly underestimated their own popularity. While only half thought their country was well-liked, Germany received the highest favorability rating of the five economic powers in the survey, particularly from its historic foe, France.