Australian distrust in US grows: survey

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   Australian distrust in US grows: survey

December 10, 2007 - 7:00AM 
Australians remain ambivalent about the United States with many distrusting its politics and values but ranking American arts, literature and sports highly, a new survey reveals.
The US Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney has released the second half of a survey of 1200 people that shows confidence towards the US has waned over the past 20 years.
Overall, 44 per cent said they had a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of confidence in the US to deal "wisely" or "responsibly" with its own social and economic problems - down from 56 per cent taken in a 1986 survey.
Achievements in science and technology, art and literature, personal and political freedom and economic opportunity earned favourable ratings of between 59 and 89 per cent from respondents.
But people rated religion, gun control, and social, racial and economic equality in the US unfavourably.
Closer to home, more than half of survey respondents were "not at all pleased" about the influence of American language and fast food on Australian culture.
But a majority gave the thumbs up to American television, sport, clothes, films and music.
The survey also found more Australians have travelled to the US, 35 per cent - up from 14 per cent in 1986 - but the proportion going to the US to study or teach has declined from 14 per cent in 1986 to six per cent this year.
USSC acting chief executive Alan Dupont said the contradictory attitudes show Australians were ambivalent about the US.
"Unfortunately, we understand less about American culture and society than we should because of stereotyping and a fall in the proportion of Australians travelling to the US to study or teach," Professor Dupont said.
AAP

This story was found at:  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135317634.h tml 

An interesting outlook, just remember this survey is from 1200 people not the whole nation.
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Angel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 03 July 2001 Status: Offline Points: 6641	Post Options Post Reply Quote Angel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Australian distrust in US grows: survey Posted: 11 December 2007 at 6:58pm
	Australian distrust in US grows: survey December 10, 2007 - 7:00AM Australians remain ambivalent about the United States with many distrusting its politics and values but ranking American arts, literature and sports highly, a new survey reveals. The US Studies Centre (USSC) at the University of Sydney has released the second half of a survey of 1200 people that shows confidence towards the US has waned over the past 20 years. Overall, 44 per cent said they had a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of confidence in the US to deal "wisely" or "responsibly" with its own social and economic problems - down from 56 per cent taken in a 1986 survey. Achievements in science and technology, art and literature, personal and political freedom and economic opportunity earned favourable ratings of between 59 and 89 per cent from respondents. But people rated religion, gun control, and social, racial and economic equality in the US unfavourably. Closer to home, more than half of survey respondents were "not at all pleased" about the influence of American language and fast food on Australian culture. But a majority gave the thumbs up to American television, sport, clothes, films and music. The survey also found more Australians have travelled to the US, 35 per cent - up from 14 per cent in 1986 - but the proportion going to the US to study or teach has declined from 14 per cent in 1986 to six per cent this year. USSC acting chief executive Alan Dupont said the contradictory attitudes show Australians were ambivalent about the US. "Unfortunately, we understand less about American culture and society than we should because of stereotyping and a fall in the proportion of Australians travelling to the US to study or teach," Professor Dupont said. AAP This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/12/10/1197135317634.h tml An interesting outlook, just remember this survey is from 1200 people not the whole nation. < =text/> function initPost() { document.domain = "theage.com.au"; var bust = Math.floor(1000000Math.random()); var bust2 = Math.floor(1000000Math.random()); var baseAd = { src: "http://ffxcam.theage.com.au/html.ng/", params: { cat: "print", ctype: "ffxnewsstory", domain: "theage.com.au", site: "theage", isiframe: "yes"} }; FD.addAd($merge(baseAd, { id: "adSpotIsland", iframeId: "AdPlaceholder-island", params: $merge(baseAd.params, { adtype: "doubleisland", adspace: "300x250"}), priority: 1, addSmall: true })); FD.addAd($merge(baseAd, { id: "adSpotBanner-Leader", iframeId: "AdPlaceholder-banner", params: $merge(baseAd.params, { adspace: "468x60", adtype: "panorama"}) })); } < =1.1> < =1.1 src="http://-au.imrworldwide.com/a1.js"> < =text/> < src="/sitecatalyst/s_code_remote.js" =text/>
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