Leaving aside the impact of particular US international policies, President Bush’s political style is deeply culturally specific to the United States. He represents a certain form of American exceptionalism to which outsiders can find it hard to relate - a fact that has been reflected in worldwide polling trends. It seems likely that the Bush impact is significant.
The Pew poll referred to earlier found that, of the minority of Australians who felt unfavourably about the United States, 53 per cent did so because of President Bush and 40 per cent because of America in general. The same poll found that a significantly higher percentage of those surveyed expressed a favourable opinion of Americans (74 per cent) than of the United States (60 per cent).
But, while the tenor of Australian attitudes to the United States may be ambivalent, there is little doubt about our views of the alliance. When it comes to the question of security, Australians are much more positive about the relationship.
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In 2006, the alliance was seen either as very important or fairly important by 70 per cent of respondents (if those who think it is somewhat important are included, support for the alliance reaches a whopping 92 per cent). This is essentially the same result as in 2005. People aged 50 and over are 10 to 15 per cent more likely to think the alliance is very important.
These data agree broadly with other surveys conducted within Australia in recent years. The 2004 Australian Election Study found that 83 per cent of respondents saw the ANZUS alliance as either very or fairly important “for protecting Australia’s security”, and 72 per cent had either a great deal (33 per cent) or a fair amount (39 per cent) of trust in the United States to come to Australia’s defence if we were threatened by another country.
Switching tack, the same study found only a very small number of respondents - 13.5 per cent - who thought that the United States posed a threat to Australian security.
This may be why, despite their reservations, Australians prefer the United States above others to have global and regional influence. If you’ve got to have a great power, they seem to be saying, it might as well be this one. Asked in 2006 how influential Australians wanted certain countries to be in the world, Lowy poll respondents gave an average score of 6.1 out of 10 to the United States, ahead of Japan (5.7), China (5.5) and India (5.2). Only the European Union came out better, with a score of 6.6.
Like most Australians, my adult view of the United States is marked by complexity and weighed down by necessary nuance. I know so much more about the world and America than did my childhood self, poring over the product of those Madison Avenue hucksters in the pages of the National Geographic. That gleaming world, those grand streets, those giant, reckless cars are certainly not my idea of heaven. Not even my idea of paradise any longer. But, as a memory of what paradise once was, they reverberate still.
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