Americans Generally View Canada and Great Britain More Positively than Other Major Countries on Six Criteria, from System of Government to Quality of Life

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – August 4, 2004, – A new Harris Poll finds that many more Americans have strongly positive attitudes toward Canada and Britain than they do toward other major European countries or Japan, Russia and China. This is true for perceptions of their systems of government, their quality of life, their present governments, their economies, their environments and the health care systems. For each of these, more Americans, probably substantially more, say they feel very positively about Canada and Great Britain than they do about France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Japan or China.

However, with the one important exception of their health care system, more Americans give their own country positive ratings than give Canada or Britain positive ratings.

These are the results of a nationwide survey of 2,242 adults by Harris Interactive® conducted online between July 12 and 16, 2004.

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about..."

Base: All Adults

The results of this new survey can be compared to the replies given by Europeans in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in another survey conducted in June by HI Europe, Harris Interactive’s London subsidiary. That survey found that, on average across these five largest European countries, relatively few people felt very positively about the U.S. system of government (19%), the U.S. quality of life (24%), the present U.S. government (7%), and the U.S. health care system (10%). Rather more people (31%) felt very positively about the U.S. economy.

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about..."

Base: All Adults

**Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

More than three quarters (77%) of Americans feel "very positively" about the U.S. Constitution and system of government. Substantial minorities feel very positively about the constitutions and systems of government in Canada (42%) and Great Britain (43%).

Relatively few people feel very positively about the systems of government in Japan (20%), France (17%) and Germany (17%).

In Europe, most people did not feel very positively about the systems of government in any of the ten countries, and the U.S. (19%) was only marginally lower than Canada (23%), France (23%), Germany (22%) and Britain (21%).

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the constitution and system of government."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

Just over half (54%) of U.S. adults feel very positively toward the present U.S. government and well over a third feel very positively about the present British (41%) and Canadian (38%) governments. And 21% feel very positively about the present Japanese government.

Apart from these four exceptions, few Americans feel very positively about the present governments among the countries listed.

Few Europeans feel very positively about any of the listed governments whether European, North American or Asian.

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the present government."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

Three quarters of Americans (77%) feel very positive about the quality of life in the United States. Substantial numbers also feel very positively about the quality of life in Canada (53%), Britain (45%), Italy (33%), France (31%), Germany (30%) and Japan (29%).

Europeans are – as on almost all questions – less positive. They gave their highest marks to the quality of life in Canada (42%), followed by France (35%), Spain (29%), Germany (28%), and the United States (24%).

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the quality of life."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

A modest majority (54%) of Americans feel very positively toward the economy in the U.S., while just under a third feel very positively about the economy in Canada (31%), and Britain (30%).

Most Europeans do not feel very positively about the economies of any of these countries but they give the U.S. (31%) higher marks than any other country.

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the economy."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

Few Americans feel very positively about the environment in any of the countries with the exception of the 51% who feel very positive about the U.S. environment and 47% who are very positive about the Canadian environment.

Here again few Europeans are very positive about all the countries, with the two exceptions that 41% feel very positively about the Canadian environment and 29% about the environment in Germany. Only 7% of Europeans feel very positively about the U.S. environment.

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the environment."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

American attitudes to health care systems are strikingly different. Of the six criteria included in this survey, this is the only one where less than 50% rate the U.S. very positively. Indeed only 34% do so.

It is also the only criterion, where more Americans rate another country higher than their own. Almost half (49%) of Americans feel very positively toward the Canadian health care system. Few other countries are highly rated, perhaps in part because most Americans know little about their health care systems.

In Europe, the highest marks – which are still low – go the French health care system (28% very positive).

"Please indicate which countries you feel very positive about the health care system."

Base: All Adults

*Based on HI Europe survey conducted among German, French, British, Italian and Spaniard adults in June 2004. (These European data were published by Harris Interactive on June 30, 2004.)

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between July 12 and 16, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,242 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. "Propensity score" weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of ±2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

W21662

Q705