Britain Best Friend, Pakistan Worse for Americans

Britain Best Friend, Pakistan Worse for Americans

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Out of a list of 25 countries, most people in the United States regard Britain as their country’s closest ally, according to a poll by Harris Interactive. 70 per cent of respondents feel this way about Britain, while at least 42 per cent also see Israel, Australia and Canada as close allies.

Conversely, 37 per cent of respondents believe Pakistan is an enemy of the U.S., followed by China and Colombia with 23 per cent each, and Russia with 17 per cent.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the U.S., Britain committed troops to both the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led coalition effort in Iraq. In his address to the U.S. Congress in September 2001, U.S. president George W. Bush declared, "America has no truer friend than Great Britain."

On Aug. 11, Bush and French president Nicolas Sarkozy met in Maine. Sarkozy discussed his views on bilateral relations, saying, "The U.S. is a large, big democracy. It’s a country of freedom and it’s a country that we’ve always admired because it’s the county that brought a constitution and freedom to the world. And France is friends with democracies, not with dictatorships."

France is regarded as a close ally of the U.S. by 20 per cent of respondents.

Polling Data

Do you feel that (country) is a close ally of the U.S., is friendly but not a close ally, is not friendly but not an enemy, or is unfriendly and is an enemy of the U.S.?

	Close ally	Friendly, but not a close ally	Not friendly, not an enemy	Unfriendly and enemy	Not sure
Britain	70%	21%	6%	1%	3%
Canada	57%	31%	9%	1%	2%
Australia	54%	28%	10%	1%	7%
Israel	42%	26%	19%	8%	5%
Japan	38%	34%	14%	10%	4%
Italy	35%	40%	16%	3%	7%
South Korea	29%	25%	20%	20%	6%
Germany	28%	39%	20%	6%	8%
Mexico	27%	39%	21%	10%	4%
Norway	27%	38%	21%	2%	12%
Netherlands	26%	44%	18%	1%	12%
Spain	25%	48%	16%	2%	8%
Sweden	22%	50%	19%	2%	7%
Greece	20%	43%	24%	3%	10%
France	20%	38%	27%	11%	4%
Taiwan	20%	36%	27%	6%	11%
India	18%	43%	21%	8%	9%
Brazil	15%	39%	30%	3%	12%
Chile	12%	39%	27%	7%	14%
South Africa	10%	42%	31%	5%	12%
Argentina	8%	41%	29%	8%	14%
Colombia	8%	24%	33%	23%	12%
Russia	6%	33%	37%	17%	6%
China	5%	25%	40%	23%	6%
Pakistan	4%	21%	32%	37%	5%

Source: Harris Interactive
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,010 American adults, conducted from Jul. 10 to Jul. 16, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.