LONDON — Europeans trust their own
countries to protect the environment far more than they do the United States,
according to a poll released Thursday.
Only eight percent of Britons, six percent of French, two percent of Germans,
seven percent of Spaniards and Russians, and five percent of Dutch said they
trusted America to protect the global environment. Poland weighed in at 14
percent.
The polls, also conducted in the United States, found that 59 percent of
Americans trust their government on this matter.
The Global Attitudes Project poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found
that European countries have much more faith in their own governments regarding
the environment. However, only one of the nations surveyed scored over 50
percent.
In Germany, 77 percent said they had faith in their administration to protect
the environment, while 43 percent of Britons and 45 percent of the French
trusted their respective governments. Only 12 percent of Russians trusted their
leaders on that issue.
Despite rating the United States poorly on the country's trustworthiness in
protecting the environment, a majority of Britons, Russians and Poles still held
a favorable opinion of America in general. However, only a minority of Dutch,
Spaniards, Germans and French viewed the United States favorably.
The polls were taken in the European countries between April 20 and May 29 with
samples ranging from about 750 in most countries to slightly over 1,000 in
Russia and Poland. The margin of sampling error ranged from 3 percentage points
to 4 percentage points, depending on the sample size.
Source: Associated Press